IT professionals lax about mobile passwords

IT professionals believe password protecting mobile handsets is a waste of time, according to a new study.

Over a third of IT security workers polled by Credant Technologies confessed to not protecting their personal or work smartphone with a password, despite knowing that their handset contains sensitive data.

This is only slightly better than the general public, two in five of whom have no password protection on their mobile phone.

Credant blamed the lack of security on ‘password fatigue’.

“It is alarming to note that the very people who are responsible for IT security are not much better at protecting the information on their business phones than most of their co-workers,” said Andrew Kahl of Credant Technologies.

Four in five smartphones used by IT professionals contain business names and addresses, while two thirds contain personal names and addresses.

One in twenty holds credit card information, 12% have bank account details, and 1% are used to store passwords and pin numbers.

Credant warned that IT professionals who fail to password protect their phones not only jeopardise business security, but also risk breaking the law.

“If a mobile or smartphone goes missing and isn’t protected with a password, and contains business names and addresses and other corporate data such as business emails, then the company is immediately in breach of the data protection act by failing to meet some of its principals on electronic data,” Kahl said.

“It is therefore imperative that all mobile phone users who hold sensitive data, either personal or corporate, should always password protect it at a minimum,” he concluded.

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