Survey: Mobile becoming a security concern

According to a recent survey by San Diego-based Confident Technologies, mobile devices are a burgeoning source of identity theft due to a combination of convenience issues and ignorance. The lack of concern over mobile identity theft could be seen in the more than 50 percent of respondents who said they don't use a password or PIN to lock their smartphones. Furthermore, 44 percent stated locking their phones would be too "cumbersome," while 30 percent weren't worried about the risk at all. Confident also found that businesses are at a greater risk than ever before because the majority of people - 65 percent - use their mobile phones to access work email or a company computer network. According to former White House cybersecurity adviser Richard Clark, businesses allowing employees to use their personal mobile devices for work purposes "is the newest and largest vulnerability in corporate America now," as quoted by Network World. People also stay perpetually logged in because of the frustration many have with re-typing their information on the smaller surface area. More than 30 percent reported they "often forget or mistype on small keyboards." Curtis Staker, CEO of Confident Technologies, pointed out that people’s "lax security habits have made the mobile platform the new frontier for hackers, malware and fraud."