72 % of Indian businesses hit by mobility incidents last year: survey

The last 12 months had seen almost 72 per cent of the Indian businesses face mobility incidents, while 37 per cent using mobility devices had lost revenue due to mobility incidents, reveals a survey conducted by software security firm Symantec.

The survey, which was conducted on 200 Indian companies on mobile trends, showed the companies were affected by mobility incidents like malware infections, spam incidents, exposures of information, breaches due to lost or stolen devices and 28 phishing or social engineering instances on an average.

One in three had incurred direct financial costs due to mobility incidents, it added.

According to the company, around 40 per cent restricted mobile device usage through HR enforcement and 38 per cent used technology controls. Seven in 10 Indian businesses believed that the benefits equaled our outweighed the risks.

One in two businesses had taken measures to ensure employees adhered to policy guidelines while 45 per cent had ensured that mobile devices that connected to the network had installed proper safeguards.

The next one year is expected to see the number of mobility devices bought by business houses for employees rise by 5 per cent. 

Shantanu Ghosh, managing director (India product operations), who interacted with reporters in Chennai said the Indian government was also looking at bringing in regulations to address internet security issues.

He added, in order to track down the hackers, the government was planning to introduce stringent regulations in which the companies that had been victims of hacking had to share more data related to the hacking and the company.

Further, the days of sweeping security breaches under the rug might be over soon, as the government planned to bring in legislation that would ensure strict cyber security disclosure norms.

Companies, that were hit by hacking, for instance, might be forced to disclose to their clients the impact of an incident of the kind on the safety of their data and information.

Ghosh said for companies in the US, it was mandatory to disclose the nature and impact of any hacking incident.

''Companies in other countries are also required, by regulation, to keep the government in the loop in addition to its customers and clients. This must be done even if no vital information has been lost. It is a measure of how serious cyber security has become,'' he said.

Ghosh was speaking at the launch of the Symantec State of Mobility Survey 2013. The company, which was working closely with the centre on security issues, was upbeat on the increased cyber security awareness in the Indian market.

''When we have meetings with the government, they are very aware of the various security vulnerabilities and hacking threats that they face. However, there is a long way to go for the implementation of proper security barriers. In the consumer market, we are focussing heavily on mobile security solutions ,'' Ghosh said.