Editor's Corner

Poorly secured mobility efforts can decimate that ROI factor with just one wireless network breach. A Ponemon Institute report surveyed over a dozen enterprises about confidential data breaches and found that the total cost comes in around $14 million dollars each. That's not small change to anyone's bottom line these days. These costs includes the investment needed to notify customers, legal counsel as well as the productivity dips due to the break-in itself. That's why it's still amazing to me that wireless and mobile deployments are happening without enough up-front security planning--the cost of that effort doesn't come close to the cost of a breach. As another report indicates, over 60 percent of IT leaders are ignoring mobile devices within their current security policies, and the majority do realize the danger involved in taking such a stance. PointSec estimates that only about 20 percent of today's mobile devices have the necessary security systems installed. -Judy