Global Study Reveals Workers Do Not Trust Employers with Their Personal Data
Global Study Reveals Workers Do Not Trust Employers with Their Personal Data
Aruba Report Shows Employees Fear Losing Personal Data, Leading Many to Keep Mobile Devices Hidden from Employers
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Aruba Networks, Inc. (NAS: ARUN) , a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise, today released a global study revealing that workers using their own mobile devices for work remain fearful of their employer accessing their personal information.
The report, 'Employees Tell the Truth About Your Company's Data', features a study of over 3,000 employees around the world and reveals that almost half of European (45 percent), 40 percent of Middle Eastern and 66 percent of American respondents fear the loss of personal data.
A further 34 percent of Europeans, 35 percent of Middle Easterners and more than half of Americans (51 percent) claim that their IT department takes no steps to ensure the security of corporate files and applications on their personal devices.
These concerns are leading many employees to keep their personal devices away from the IT department, which is jeopardizing company data. Around one in six European workers (15 percent) and Middle Eastern and American employees (17 percent) have not told their employers that they use a personal device for work.
Even more concerning for business is that 13 percent in Europe, 26 percent in the Middle East and 11 percent in the USAwould not report that their personal device had been compromised, even if it leaked company data. A further 40 percent of European workers, 41 percent of Middle Eastern workers and 36 percent of US employees would not report leaked data immediately.
This reticence is driven by negative perceptions of corporate IT departments, particularly what the IT team might do with the employee's personal device and data. Twenty-five percent in Europe, 31 percent in the Middle East and 45 percent in the USA worry about IT department access to their personal data, while 18 percent in Europe and 26 percent in the Middle East fear their IT department would interfere with their private data if they handed over their device.
When asked how they would feel if their personal data was accessed by their IT department, around half of all users across Europe and the Middle East described their reaction as 'angry', and 41 percent in Europe, 47 percent in the Middle East and 46 percent in the US would feel 'violated' by this news.
Ben Gibson, Chief Marketing Officer of Aruba Networks, said, "The research from both sides of the Atlantic shows that employees and IT departments are gambling with data security, but chance isn't the only factor. In short, employees resent the power their employers now wield over their personal data, but are equally unconcerned about keeping company data safe."
Gibson continued, "We are now well beyond the point of discussing Bring Your Own Device as something on the horizon. It is a reality across the world and businesses need to adopt solutions that give their employees greater privacy for their personal data as well as exert greater network controls to ensure that sensitive information is not leaked, without disrupting the user experience."
There is a clear disparity between what employees want and what IT departments need. Creating a division between personal data and work data would go a long way to solving these problems and putting employees' minds to rest.
To manage the use of personal mobile devices, the Aruba WorkSpace mobile application provisions a separate, encrypted area on the devices for work applications and content. This gives IT full control over the corporate information in the encrypted space, but no visibility into personal areas of the device, thereby protecting employee privacy.
For more information and a detailed breakdown of the research, copies of 'Employees Tell the Truth About Your Company's Data' are available here http://www.arubanetworks.com/pdf/solutions/EB_mdmreport.pdf.
For more information about Aruba WorkSpace, please visit http://www.arubanetworks.com/solutions/bring-your-own-device.
About Aruba Networks, Inc.
Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company's Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture unifies wired and wireless network infrastructures into one seamless access solution for corporate headquarters, mobile business professionals, remote workers and guests. This unified approach to access networks enables IT organizations and users to securely address the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon, dramatically improving productivity and lowering capital and operational costs.
Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com. For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook, and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.
© 2012 Aruba Networks, Inc. Aruba Networks' trademarks include the design mark for AirWave, Aruba Networks®, Aruba Wireless Networks®, the registered Aruba the Mobile Edge Company logo, the registered AirWave logo, Aruba Mobility Management System®, Mobile Edge Architecture®, People Move. Networks Must Follow®, RFProtect®, Green Island®. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Methodology
Aruba Networks recently completed two separate studies into employee BYOD habits. The first survey, carried out in March 2013 by independent research house Shape The Future, asked 3,014 people from select European nations (France, Germany, Spain and the UK) and two countries from the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). All of the respondents used a personal smartphone for work purposes.
The second survey was conducted by Kelton in February 2013, and asked 551 American business people about their own personal mobile devices and how they use them for work.
Aruba Networks, Inc.
Ben Gibson, +1 408-419-4267
Chief Marketing Officer
bgibson@arubanetworks.com
or
Waggener Edstrom for Aruba Networks
Laura Gillen, +44 (0) 207 632 3876
lgillen@waggeneredstrom.com
KEYWORDS: United Kingdom United States Europe North America California
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:
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