Three-quarters of South African companies are concerned about how the ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) trend is a ‘growing threat to their business’.
This is according to the Global Corporate IT Security Risks 2013 survey, conducted by B2B International and software security firm Kaspersky Lab.
The survey involved interviews with representatives of companies in 24 countries.
And fears of BYOD are greater in South Africa than many other parts of the globe, according to the study.
69% of companies in North Africa voiced BYOD concerns. Meanwhile, 65% in the Middle East, 62% in Western Europe and just 57% in Russia have similar worries, says the study.
But in South Africa this percentage figure touched 75%.
South Africa’s ‘higher-than-average’ fear of BYOD also translates into other measures.
“The percentage of companies planning to restrict the use of personal devices for work purposes is on the rise: the number of respondents reporting plans to impose restrictions was up globally from 19% in 2012 to 25% in 2013, while in South Africa the figure is 30%,” says Kaspersky.
“The percentage of companies planning to impose more stringent restrictions against the use of personal devices at work is unchanged from last year, at 10% globally – it is 14% in South Africa,” adds the company.
Reasons cited for the higher than average BYOD concerns in South Africa are that “nearly 20% of respondents in South Africa said their companies had suffered confidential data leaks through mobile email clients, text messaging, and other channels available to smartphone and tablet owners.”
However, the study highlights how only 47% of South African companies are using antivirus solutions for mobile devices on the corporate network, and just 18% use mobile device management solutions.
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