First Real-Life Study Focused On SMB's - Most Lack Complete Visibility To Mobile Devices Connecting To Their Network

SEATTLE, Feb. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobilisafe, a Seattle-based mobile security company, today announced interim results of its small and midsized business (SMB) focused beta study.  As part of the beta, SMB participants evaluated a product that provides visibility to all mobile devices accessing their company's network.

Over the course of 3 months, Mobilisafe mapped more than 38 million employee mobile device connections that provided key data for their analysis and interim results.  This analysis has uncovered several startling insights:

• The majority of SMB's are highly mobilized, driven by the bring your own device (BYOD) trend of recent years
• SMB IT managers significantly underestimate the number and kinds of mobile devices connecting to their network
• SMB IT departments lack solutions to map their corporate standard for information security used with laptops, desktops and servers to mobile devices. For example, they have tremendous difficulty determining if mobile devices are up-to-date with the latest firmware
• Even though there are serious concerns about data risk on mobile devices, SMBs do not feel they have adequate tools to determine those risks and respond to them

This lack of visibility to mobile devices and their usage can have serious consequences, especially when employee owned devices are lost, stolen or resold to others outside the company.  The accelerating adoption of smart devices and growing number of available products is creating a large reseller market for replaced devices.  For example, Motorola recently announced that refurbished Xoom tablets were accidentally sold with data such as passwords still on the device(1).  Incredibly, half of mobile devices sold on eBay still contain personal information on them(2).

Some key data from the study:

• On average, > 80% of the employees are already using smartphones and tablets
• A new device model was introduced to a company for every 6.6 employees
• 56% of iOS devices were running out-of-date firmware
• 39% of total authenticated devices were inactive > 30 days, prompting concerns and conversations with employees about lost, sold or otherwise misplaced devices with employee credentials and sensitive corporate data

"We know that SMB IT departments are severely resource constrained, and do not have the time to get ahead of the issues introduced by an increasing diversity of devices brought to work by employees.  This study confirms the severity of the issues, and the need for a solution that makes it simple to see, assess and respond to these risks." – Giri Sreenivas, CEO, Mobilisafe

Please visit www.mobilisafe.com or contact press@mobilisafe.com for more details.

About Mobilisafe
Mobilisafe's vision is to be the authority on mobile device trustworthiness.  The venture-backed company was founded in 2010 by veterans of the mobile and security industries, and is leading an innovative way to approach mobile security.  Team members bring extensive experience from organizations such as T-Mobile, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard.  Mobilisafe is headquartered in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, WA.  www.mobilisafe.com Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

(1) Motorola Mobility Notifies Certain Purchasers of Refurbished Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi Tablets of Refurbishment Process Error - http://mediacenter.motorola.com/Press-Releases/Motorola-Mobility-Notifies-Certain-Purchasers-of-Refurbished-Motorola-XOOM-Wi-Fi-Tablets-of-Refurbishment-Process-Error-39d6.aspx

(2) Half of all mobile phones sold on eBay still have person data on them, Stefan Constantinescu, IntoMobile, 10/13/10 - http://www.intomobile.com/2010/10/13/ebay-phones-personal-data/

CONTACT:
Sajal Sahay
425-289-8489
sajal@mobilisafe.com

SOURCE Mobilisafe

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