HAS OUR LOVE FOR CONSUMER TECHNOLOGIES MADE THIS THE EASIEST TIME FOR CYBERCRIMINALS TO HACK BUSINESSES ?
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HAS OUR LOVE FOR CONSUMER TECHNOLOGIES MADE THIS THE EASIEST TIME FOR CYBERCRIMINALS TO HACK BUSINESSES ?
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Ashraf Sheet , Regional Director , Middle East and Africa at Infoblox
Is it becoming easier for cybercriminals to access company data ?
Ashraf Sheet , Regional Director , Middle East and Africa at Infoblox , looks at how companies can balance giving employees the freedom to use their devices in the workplace while ensuring the network remains secure .
We are in the age of the ‘ office of the future ’ – every company now battles it out to attract staff and clients by having the most fun office , with the newest gadgets and apps . This has seen countless consumer toys become ‘ business critical equipment .’ But has our love for consumer technologies made this the easiest time for cybercriminals to hack businesses ?
In a word , yes . At Infoblox , we recently conducted a Shadow IoT research report , entitled What is Lurking on Your Network , that found fitness trackers , smart TVs , virtual assistants and games consoles are increasingly becoming part of the office furniture . These devices open up a whole new myriad of ways cybercriminals can access company data . In the same report , it was found that over a third of companies in the US , UK and Germany ( 35 %) reported more than 5,000 non-business devices connecting to their networks each day . This is essentially 5,000 non-business critical cybercrime risks .
What ’ s the issue ?
These devices and consumer apps often make their way on to company ’ s networks without following the IT department ’ s guidelines .
Nearly a quarter of employees from the US and UK that we surveyed did not know if their organisation had a security policy and out of those that did , 20 % of UK respondents admitted rarely or never following it .
And only one fifth of respondents in the US and UK said they followed it by the book .
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