Acronis Survey Shows Nearly 60 Percent of Companies are Vulnerable to BYOD Risks

Businesses are Ignoring BYOD Policies, Simple Security Steps and Employee Education, Research Shows

Woburn, MA - July 17, 2013 - A new survey from Acronis® and the Ponemon Institute reveals that a majority of companies are putting critical data at risk by not having secure bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies in place. By ignoring simple security steps and employee BYOD education, companies are jeopardizing their confidential data, exposing it to theft, corruption, hackers, malware and more.

Acronis' 2013 Data Protection Trends Research, which evaluated responses from more than 4,300 IT professionals in eight countries, discovered that:

1. There Are Big Gaps in BYOD Policy

• Almost 60 percent have no personal device policy in place, and, among those with policies, 24 percent make exceptions for executives, who may handle even more sensitive data. As a result, these organizations are increasingly vulnerable to data loss and serious compliance issues.
• A number of organizations are still in denial when it comes to BYOD trends, as more than 30 percent surveyed actually forbid personal devices from accessing the network.
• Nearly 80 percent of organizations haven't educated employees on BYOD privacy risks.

2. Simple Security Precautions Are Falling to the Wayside

• Just 31 percent of companies mandate a device password or key lock on personal devices, and only 21 percent perform remote device wipes when employees leave the company, drastically increasing the risk for data leakage.

3. Businesses Underestimate the Dangers of Public Clouds

• Corporate files are commonly shared through third-party cloud storage solutions such as DropBox, but 67 percent of organizations don't have a policy in place around public clouds and 80 percent haven't trained employees in the proper use of these platforms.

4. Businesses Fear Apple® Devices Are Complicating BYOD Security

• While 65 percent of organizations will support Macs® in the next year, more than half (57 percent) say compatibility and interoperability are still big obstacles to getting Macs compliant with IT, which puts data stored and shared across the corporate network and on Apple devices at risk.

Supporting Quote

"Personal devices have permanently and positively changed the workplace, particularly in the ways employees collaborate, work remotely and interact with company data," said Anders Lofgren, director of Mobility Solutions for Acronis. "BYOD is a huge opportunity for companies, but our research shows troubling signs of negligence in the face of these dangers. However, with policies and solutions that manage the flow of data between multiple devices and environments, companies can practice safe BYOD with confidence."

Matching BYOD Productivity with Policy

To optimize BYOD, protect the bottom line, and avoid data loss and serious compliance issues, organizations should take immediate steps to ensure employees are trained in safe BYOD practices, that personal device and public cloud use are monitored and managed, and that effective data protection solutions are in place to prevent data loss. These are the critical steps to achieving safe BYOD.

Resources:

• Download the BYOD Survival Guide eBook here: http://bit.ly/18Psbb4
• Find the Acronis BYOD Safety infographic here: http://bit.ly/18Psyme
• For more information on Acronis mobility solutions, click here: http://bit.ly/155dmvW

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Notes to Editors:

The survey was conducted by the Ponemon Institute across eight countries during March and April 2013. 4,374 IT practitioners were surveyed in mid to large sized organisations across a variety of industries.

Acronis^® is a registered trademark of Acronis International GmbH in the United States and/or other countries. Apple® and Mac® are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.