The Verizon Mobile Security Index (MSI) 2022 released yesterday revealed an alarming uptick in cybercrime since the expansion of the online work age — and how companies are responding.

As more organizations move their operational information and data to the cloud they face an increased risk for cyber attacks.

“Attacks are up year-over-year, with respondents stating that the severity has grown along with the increase in the number of mobile/IoT devices,” Senior Solution Specialist, Enterprise Security for Verizon Business Mike Riley told SDxCentral.

Of the companies surveyed, 45% experienced a breach in the past year, "up 22% since the year prior," Verizon stated, and 79% agreed that the shifting work practices played a harmful role in their organization’s cybersecurity.

“With the increased threat, it would seem that companies would double down on their policies. However, the findings point to the opposite,” Verizon wrote. 

According to the report, 85% of respondents said they had a budget set in place for mobile security. However, a little over half said they sacrificed security to ‘get the job done’ in meeting productivity targets.

For example, 85% said home WiFi and cellular networks and hotspots were allowed, or no policy had been established, while 68% allowed or had no policy against using public WiFi.

Riley posited this is “most likely because of the need to quickly deploy devices to ensure their employees were productive remotely, and with that quick pivot, they may not have had the chance to implement the proper acceptable use policies.” 

The report collected data from across multiple business sectors: enterprise; health care; manufacturing, construction, and transportation; public sector and education; retail; and financial services – offering additional insight into security breaches and the threat landscape at large.

Twenty-three percent of enterprise respondents have suffered a mobile security compromise, with 74% saying the impact of the compromise was serious, and 34% saying the damage was lasting.

In the health care sector, while 76% of organizations found telehealth a great opportunity for patient care, 87% are worried about confidential patient data making them targets for attacks, and 85% are concerned a breach could compromise patient care. 

From those surveyed in manufacturing, construction, and transportation, 79% believe a compromise could disrupt their entire supply chain despite 76% feeling mobile-based services are essential to improved productivity. 

With so many sectors labeling digital transformation essential, businesses will continue to be exposed if they don't adjust their security measures. Part of the centralized protection the report's experts champion is a zero trust network access (ZTNA) model with secure access service edge (SASE) architecture to combat and shield against potential attacks.

“This is a stark reminder that enterprise leaders need to look at mobile security as a must-have, not a nice-to-have” Riley said. “For mobile security, devices need to be secured as another mobile endpoint, similar to how they are securing their on-prem devices/infrastructure.”

Yet Riley added the report is showing increasing dedication put towards mobile security from organizations. “This along with the general awareness of the risks should show that better practices are being implemented,” he said.