Cisco’s 2010 mid-year security report may have many IT professionals unhappy with their colleagues.

According to the research, nearly 50 percent of end-users ignore company policy on social media access and 27 percent said they knowingly alter settings on their corporate devices to access restricted applications.

As employee dependence on work-issued smartphones increases, companies must adopt new mobile management strategies to protect their data from potential security threats.

The results indicate workers are using their smartphones to surf social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. These sites host many third-party apps, which can be dangerous to users and companies if proper security measures are not taken.

Not only do social networking sites often lead to malware infection or other internet risks, but workers may accidentally divulge private company information through a wall post or a status update, which could embarrass their employer.

Many businesses have adopted enterprise mobility management strategies to allow users the freedom to access sites they need for work, while still maintaining a high level of security. With more employees completing their tasks out of the office through their smartphone or laptop, the need for central device management and remote data wiping are useful tools to protect corporate data.

This entry was posted by Mobility Management News Desk on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 11:14 am and is filed under Understanding Mobility Management News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

Please follow us @Visage_Mobile on Twitter. We also encourage you to join MOM’s Kitchen, a professional business network for Mobility Operations Managers (MOMs). This online community will allow you to explore ideas, debate issues and define best practices and benchmarks for the emerging discipline of enterprise mobility management.