Editor's Corner

The FierceWireless-Bluefire Wireless Security Survey indicates three out of five survey respondents thought their companies would be willing to pay more for wireless security if it were offered as part of a monthly service plan by a wireless carrier. Forty-three percent believed their organizations would pay more if security was provided by smartphone or wireless device manufacturers, while nearly half thought their companies would purchase more devices if security risks could be virtually eliminated. "The survey results paint a very different and surprising picture within the industry," says Bluefire Security Technologies' CEO Mark Komisky.

"This data suggests that the next-step in the evolution of wireless security is for handset manufacturers and carriers to bundle security packages for both end users and enterprises. In doing so, they would not only be creating an important key differentiator, but also responding to a real concern and demand among users," says Kevin Burden, program manager for mobile devices services, for international analyst group IDC.

"The adoption of mobile devices has seen phenomenal growth in the last decade, essentially creating an economy dependent on being connected at all times," said Jeff Giesea, President of FierceMarkets, which publishes FierceWireless. "For businesses and consumers alike, we are also seeing a significant uptake in the mobile device becoming the one device for all communications including replacement of traditional computing devices, making security a significant concern and issue for the industry."

Other major findings of the FierceWireless-Bluefire Wireless Security Survey include the following:

• More than 80 percent of respondents reported their organizations' use of handheld devices had increased over the past two years. Aside from voice communications, top-ranked wireless applications included corporate email access and remote access to corporate networks (more than three-fourths of respondents ranked corporate email as among their most-used applications, with remote access to corporate servers ranked second).
  
• As to specific wireless security concerns, more than 70 percent of respondents said their top-ranked wireless security concerns are viruses or attacks on the corporate network and the security of data during transmission over wireless or cellular networks. Loss or theft of wireless devices ranked a distant third, with about 40 percent of respondents indicating a concern.
  
• Eighty-six percent of all respondents agreed that security protection should be required of their handheld devices. More than 90 percent reported being concerned about the security of email access to corporate server-based accounts and remote access to corporate networks, while 84 percent said access to web-based email accounts had become a significant security concern.
  
• Sixty-seven of respondents said they were worried about the security of web access via their smartphones. Other areas of security concern for more than half of the respondents included IM, order entry, CRM, and SMS, or MMS.

About 22 percent of respondents identified themselves as executive management, 27 percent as holding technical/engineering positions, and 20 percent as sales/business development managers. Other job functions reported included marketing/public relations (12 percent), programming (3 percent), and accounting/financial (2 percent). Respondents represented a range of industry sectors, including telecommunications (34 percent), IT/technology (22 percent), professional services (11 percent), financial services (6 percent), manufacturing (6 percent), as well as consumer products, healthcare, education, and government (military and non-military).

A complete report on the FierceWireless-Bluefire Wireless Security Survey is available at www.bluefiresecurity.com/securitysurvey. - Judy