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Lookout Study: Nearly 40 Percent of Government Employees Ignore Policies Prohibiting Mobile Device Use, Put Sensitive Data at RiskSAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Lookout, the global leader in mobile security, today released its State of Federal BYOD report, which reveals that mobile devices are extremely prevalent in federal agencies, even within those that purport to have policies prohibiting the use of them. Lookout's own data from its more than 70 million users supports this finding. Lookout analyzed 20 federal agencies and found 14,622 Lookout-enabled devices associated with those agencies' networks. Those devices encountered 1,781 app-based threats. Today's report, which is based on a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. federal employees, finds that not only are federal employees using personal devices to access potentially sensitive government data, a significant number of them engage in behaviors that could put the device and, in turn, the data it contains or accesses at risk. This includes behaviors such as rooting, jailbreaking, and sideloading applications, which involves installing applications from places other than official app stores, such as websites or links in email. "The cybersecurity practices, or lack thereof, of the federal government are under the microscope in the wake of the OPM hack. Yet, hardly anyone is scrutinizing the unsanctioned use of mobile devices that could be putting government data at risk," said Bob Stevens, Vice President of Federal Systems at Lookout. "As we saw earlier this year when it was reported that Secretary Clinton used her personal email for State Department work, federal employees are using personal technology for work purposes whether BYOD is approved or not. As we evaluate the federal government's cybersecurity practices, we must also take into account the increasing role mobile plays in today's workplace and assess how to better protect the sensitive data accessed by federal employees' devices. This report shows that rules, policies and employee education alone are insufficient in stopping risky or threatening events before they cause damage." Highlights of Lookout's State of Federal BYOD report, include:
Methodology: The survey was conducted on Lookout's behalf by Market Cube between June 19, 2015 to June 26, 2015 among 1,002 United States federal employees. The margin of error is 3.1 percent. About Lookout Lookout is a cybersecurity company that predicts and stops mobile attacks before harm is done to an individual or an enterprise. Lookout's cloud-based technology is fueled by a global sensor network of more than 70 million users and tens of thousands of apps that are added daily. With this dataset of virtually all the mobile code in the world and the predictive machine intelligence to analyze and make sense of the data, Lookout can identify connections that would otherwise go unseen and stop cybercriminals from attacking mobile devices. The world's leading mobile network operators, including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, EE, KDDI, Orange, Sprint, T-Mobile and Telstra, have selected Lookout as its preferred mobile security solution. Headquartered in San Francisco, Lookout has offices in Boston, London, Singapore, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington, D.C. To learn more, visit www.lookout.com.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lookout-study-nearly-40-percent-of-government-employees-ignore-policies-prohibiting-mobile-device-use-put-sensitive-data-at-risk-300130821.html SOURCE Lookout |