Mobile Threats | Video

| 6/5/2012

The business world has latched onto B.Y.O.D., or "bring your own device", the concept of letting employees use their own computers, smartphones and tablets to access company computers.

That ease of access can also makes it easier for crooks to gain access to critical company information.

The internet security folks at McAfee say it`s especially scary, especially since mobile malware increased a whopping 1,200-percent recently.

"There are so many people that are so interconnected, and as a result of that kind of functionality the threat landscape for mobile has just gone ballistic for the last couple of quarters," says McAfee director of security research Dave Marcus.

The challenge for it staffs is to protect data, but still give users access to it.

"If you allow just complete mixing of work items and personal items, then there are exposures that can happen and it`s really important to provide a safe system for this new phenomena of `bring your own device`," says Citrix Systems` Chris Fleck.

The problem, experts say, is people don`t think of their newer devices as having the same vulnerabilities as their old PCs and laptops.

"They look at an iPad and they see functionality, they see apps, they see games and they see social media," Marcus says "and as such they don`t take the same precautions."

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