When it comes to mobile security, business users display the riskiest online behavior: About 79% of businessmen and 67% of businesswomen use potentially risky apps every day.
That’s according to the Allot Mobile Trends Report H1 2016, which found that potential malware risk is affected both by the online behavior of the user and by the app or URL itself. In other words, it’s not just the app; it’s how you use it.
The digital experience is driven by millions of mobile apps with new ones popping up all the time. Moreover, millions of people use mobile browsers to search, find and consume an endless variety of content and services online. The digital lifestyle invites and encourages us to share information, content and experiences via email, social networks, online storage and other apps, which often become a vehicle for malware to spread. Without knowing, mobile users click malicious links, forward infected content and download infected files, putting themselves and their online contacts at risk.
Youth and Millennials are also at high risk, with 65% of them using potentially risky apps every day. While mobile app downloads are often protected, their ongoing use is not protected, making users vulnerable to malware threats.
“Our MobileTrends findings clearly show that safeguarding users at the network level would be the most effective method for protecting against multiple types of mobile threats, as the security measures can provide a protective umbrella for all online activity,” said Yaniv Sulkes, AVP of marketing at Allot.
When it comes to the potential riskiness of specific apps and URLs, the study found that more than 90% of the apps in these categories are potentially risky: P2P file sharing, Web conferencing, file storage and sharing, remote administration and search portals. Meanwhile, about 23% to 36% of social networking, network protocols, Web content aggregators and e-commerce apps were found to be risky, and 5%-10% media sharing and instant messaging apps were.
It’s an opportunity for some in the ecosystem to capitalize. “Mobile operators are perfectly positioned to provide protection to consumers and businesses,” said Sulkes. “We see a golden opportunity for mobile operators to identify and reach out to customers at risk, targeting them with personalized security-as-a-service from their network or cloud.”
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