The Ponemon Institute published their 2013 State of the
Endpoint study.  The “endpoint” in IT is
best described as devices such as your PC, laptop, iPad and smartphone.  These endpoints are proving difficult to
secure for numerous reasons.

I would like to add that Alvaka Networks NetSecureSM
family of products now provides endpoint security to encrypt local disk drives
and lock down other dangerous vectors such as USB ports.  Our solution is easily managed from a central
console and it helps you meet HIPAA and other compliance requirements.

Here
are the most noteworthy bullets:

·
Eighty percent of respondents believe laptops and other mobile
data-bearing devices such as smart phones pose a significant security risk to
their organization’s networks or enterprise systems because they are not
secure.

·
Third-party application risk increases. Google Docs and Adobe,
including Flash and Adobe Reader are the applications of greatest concern.

·
Malware attacks are increasing. Fifty-eight percent of respondents say
their organizations have more than 25 malware attempts or incidents each month
and another 20 percent are unsure.

·
The biggest headaches for IT pros are advanced persistent threats and
hacktivism.

·
Eighty-five percent of respondents are very concerned or increasingly
concerned about Mac malware infections. This percentage remains unchanged from
2011.

·
Higher IT operating expenses are blamed on malware.

·
The lack of an enforceable centralized cloud security policy is
putting unstructured confidential information at risk. Forty-five percent of
respondents say their organization does not enforce employees’ use of private
clouds and 14 percent are unsure.

·
Controlling access privileges is often non-existent in organizations
represented in this study. Sixty percent do allow local admin privileges to
part of their user environment or to the entire user environment.

Click
Here to Read the Full Report from Ponemon