Published on the 03/11/2010 | Written by Newsdesk
New research reveals that New Zealanders are leaving themselves vulnerable by not securing their mobile devices…
The Unisys research says that six out of ten New Zealanders never secure their mobiles, PDAs or smartphones by using, and regularly changing, a password or PIN. Only 18 percent said they always secured their mobile devices.
It’s not all bad news. New Zealanders are doing better trying to protect themselves on social networks.
The survey on New Zealanders’ mobile phone use showed:
• 18 percent always use, and change regularly, passwords on their main mobile device (59 percent never)
• 35 percent always use hard to guess passwords which are changed regularly when using the internet (30 percent never)
• 42 percent always read and comply with policies and privacy statements of companies they do business with (18 percent never)
• 47 percent always securely shred and dispose of personal paperwork, such as bills, tax documents and medical papers (28 percent never)
• 59 percent always limit personal information posted to social networking websites, and set privacy settings to restrict who can access their information (19 percent never)
• 61 percent always update security and virus protection software on their computer (15 percent never).
Brett Hodgson, Managing Director, Unisys New Zealand said that by not bothering to lock their mobile devices with a password or PIN the majority of New Zealanders are leaving themselves unnecessarily vulnerable to cyber crime and identity theft including the organizations they may work for if they use the phone for work as well as personal matters.
“Typically there seems to be a lag between adopting new technology and taking the appropriate action to secure it: first we embrace it, then we become aware of the potential risks it may bring, and only after that do we make the effort to secure it in order to better protect ourselves. That’s why many organisations have not yet caught up with the security protection and policies that the latest mobile gadgets require.
“We went through the same cycle with the introduction of email and learning the value of anti-virus and anti-spam protection, and more recently with social networking and the need to be careful about what information you make publically available. We are now going through that cycle with internet enabled mobile devices. When you consider that 96 percent of New Zealand employees use at least one self-purchased technology device at work (1), the potential exposure is significant.
There is one trend that pleases him. “We are seeing more New Zealanders read and comply with the policies and privacy statements of companies they do business with. In 2007, the Unisys Security Index showed that 28 percent of people always read privacy policies, compared to 42 percent in 2010 who said they always read and complied with policies and privacy statements, an increase of 14 percentage points,” Mr. Hodgson said.
