Employees (And Their Gadgets) Pose Security Risk to Workplace

As scary as hackers are, they may not be the biggest security threat weighing on corporate information technology executives.

Rather, it’s the growing number of employees who bring their smartphones and tablets into the workplace. Sixty percent of corporate IT managers surveyed by the Ponemon Institute said their greatest security worries stem from employees connecting personal devices to the corporate network.

Who knew an iPad or little Android robot could be so menacing?

Companies are taking steps to mitigate the risks. A new report from Good Technology shows that its corporate clients — banks, insurance companies, health care providers, retailers and the like — are fortifying their networks.

Good’s mobility index report for the first quarter showed a nearly 3,000 percent surge in secure browsing applications, compared with the preceding quarter.

Secure enterprise applications — software that allows employees to use their portable devices to create marketing materials or access their corporate email — grew by 57 percent, Good reported.

The number of custom business applications rose 77 percent quarter over quarter, another sign that corporations are providing tools for an increasingly mobile workforce.

Good also found a doubling of applications that allow for mobile printing, notes and secure messaging. It’s a sign that organizations are growing more sophisticated in their use of mobile applications.

“What these statistics, as a whole, point to is we’re closing the app gap,” said Good Technology Vice President John Dasher. “The delta between what users need to be productive and what’s available — that’s clearly disappearing fast.”

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.