Dive Brief:

• Four out of 10 companies have lost key corporate data from a mobile device, according to a new survey from NetEnrich.
• The survey, which generated responses from 150 IT professionals in North America, found 41% of respondents have lost between $50,000 and $100,000 over the past three years due to a mobile device security breach.
• The biggest causes of mobile device data loss were malware apps (45%); an unsecured public cloud (44%); users cutting and pasting data to unsecured or public locations (42%); mobile devices running older versions of operating systems known to have security holes (41%); and Advanced Persistent Threats lurking on mobile devices or servers (40%).

Dive Insight:

The proliferation of mobile devices has created significant challenges for corporate IT security professionals, and have become an increasingly attractive target for cybercriminals. With more employees using their personal smartphones for work, there may be little preventing mobile phone-based malware from creeping into enterprise networks.

The NetEnrich report suggests companies become more proactive in engaging employees about mobile security policies, but also found that isn’t always easy. More than half of respondents said their biggest challenge is proving that following the mobile device protocols is in their employees’ best interests.

Earlier this month, a malware report from Nokia found mobile device infections rose 96% in the first half of 2016. Smartphone infections nearly doubled between January and July 2016 compared to the last half of 2015. The malware infection rate hit a record high in April, when one out of every 120 smartphones had some sort of malware infection.