Half of UK businesses plan to set up staff for remote
email access over the next year but are turning a blind eye to the
related security issues.
Almost a quarter of the IT directors (23%) surveyed by research
firm Vanson Bourne say remote and mobile email access will take up
most of their resources, while 14% say it will be the biggest cost
per user in the next 12 months.
Despite its importance, less than a tenth of IT chiefs thought
that controlling access to email was a security threat.
Simon Ratcliffe, head of managed services at Business Systems
Group (BSG), which commissioned the research, says companies should
subject mobile devices to the same policies and management as those
applied to desktops.
“Part of the issue seems to be that email is regarded as a
commodity within most businesses and is often not accorded the same
level of respect required from a security perspective,” says
Ratcliffe.
Mobile device security is often overlooked or seen as too
expensive because of email’s ‘commodity’ status.