As employees return to the office, security concerns over the devices they bring with them has grown as well. In partnership with a third-party research firm, SlashNext surveyed 300 individuals about the use of personal devices for work-related tasks, how employers balance corporate security and employee privacy amidst the rise of BYOD and the resulting cybersecurity gaps.
The study found that 90% of security leaders say protecting employees’ personal devices is a top priority, but only 63% say they definitely have the tools to do it adequately. Additionally, 43% of employees were found to have been the target of a work-related phishing attack on their personal devices.
Key findings of the report include:
- 71% of employees store sensitive work passwords on their personal phone.
- 95% of security leaders say that phishing attacks via private messaging apps is an increasing concern.
- 66% of employees use their personal texting apps for work.
- 85% of employers require work-related apps to be installed on employees’ personal devices.
- 89% of IT and security leaders acknowledge legal concerns about having access to employees’ private data.
- 81% of employers say the solution for employee mobile data security and privacy is to give employees a separate phone just for work, which effectively doubles the attack surface for threat actors.
- More employees are worried about being the target of a corporate phishing attack than employer surveillance on their personal devices.
- 98% of employers say that even with regular training, employees are still susceptible to phishing and other attacks.
