Security Professionals Embrace Not-So-Secure Mobile Work Habits

Survey highlights broad acceptance of work anytime/anywhere culture and some surprising security practices

Security professionals have embraced BYOD (bring your own device) and they’re taking “anytime, anywhere” access to some pretty interesting locations, according to a new survey conducted by Ping Identity, The Identity Security Company™. Surprisingly, these security professionals also admit to employing poor password security practices.

The survey, based on 198 responses from attendees at RSA® Conference 2013, sought to discover how work habits are changing as a result of cloud and mobile enterprise trends. The results show:

A Tablet-Powered Workforce is Real

• 55 percent of security professionals say they use a tablet for work.
• 45 percent of respondents say they use a tablet over their laptops or PCs for work purposes more than 25 percent of the time.
• When asked how many times per day they logged onto a work application from a mobile device, 49 percent of respondents logged in 10 or more times a day.

Even Security Professionals Have Bad Password Security Habits

• 83 percent of respondents use the same password across multiple applications – violating a password security best practice.
• Discounting email and calendar apps, 59 percent of respondents have three or more apps on their mobile device that are considered core to their job. Twenty-five percent have five or more apps that are core to their job.

Work Happens Anytime, Anywhere

Respondents were asked to list the most unusual or remote place where they logged into a work app. Nightclubs, aboard sailboats, on top of mountains, at the beach, and at theme parks were among the more common locations. Not surprisingly, ‘the bathroom” was the most common answer, cited by 21 percent of respondents.

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