Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have become a daily productivity tool for millions of business users. A new study of PDA users, however, points to a significant risk to companies, as large numbers of employees store company-sensitive information on the small, easily lost or stolen devices with virtually no security protection of any kind.

The study, 2004 United States PDA Business Usage Survey, was conducted by the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles and sponsored by Pointsec Mobile Technologies, Inc., USA, a subsidiary of IT security company Protect Data. The random survey was administered to 230 business professionals across the U.S., all of whom use a PDA on a regular basis. Among the study's key findings:

-- Half of all respondents did not have any kind of security features on
their PDAs other than standard power-on password protection;
-- 81% of respondents carry "somewhat valuable" or "extremely valuable"
information on their PDA;
-- 24% of respondents have experienced a loss or theft of at least one of
their PDAs;
-- 38% access their corporate networks or multiple networks using their
device; and
-- 60% of all executive-level respondents say their business would be
"somewhat" or "extremely" affected if the data on company-issued PDAs
were lost.

"The data from the Pepperdine study tracks with similar research our company has done in countries outside the U.S. Clearly, unprotected PDAs are putting employers -- whether corporate or organizational -- at risk," said Thomas Blitz, President of Pointsec Mobile Technologies, Inc., USA. "What's more, despite the risk, many corporate executives still perceive security to be a less-than-critical PDA purchase consideration."

Price, Ease-of-Use Most Important

The 2004 United States PDA Business Usage Survey found that 37% of executive-level respondents supply PDAs to their employees as a basic productivity tool. Yet when asked what factors are most important to their companies when considering a PDA purchase, "security" ranked third (57%)- behind "price" and "ease-of-use".

Underscoring the risk to companies is the high financial cost resulting from data theft. In the eighth annual 2003 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey conducted by the Computer Security Institute, ( www.gocsi.com ), a leading information security industry association, theft of proprietary data, while down from the previous year, was still listed as the number one cause of financial loss for businesses. Average loss by participating companies suffering a loss was approximately $2.7 million.

Interest in Protection

Also evident in the 2004 United States PDA Business Usage Survey was the desire by PDA users for improved protection -- despite a seeming lack of awareness about the seriousness of data loss. Seventy-seven percent of all respondents said they were "somewhat" or "extremely" comfortable storing sensitive data on their PDAs; yet 71% also said they would like to have log-in password protection on their devices. Another 70% said they would be "somewhat" or "extremely" interested in a security system for their PDA.

Thirty percent also revealed they use removable storage devices in conjunction with their PDA us -- pointing to yet another potential security risk.

Other results included support for personal digital assistants that come bundled with security protection. Sixty-four percent of those responding said they would be willing to pay more for a PDA with a security system than one without.

The 2004 United States PDA Business Usage Survey was conducted by the Marketing Department of the Graziadio School of Business and Management of Pepperdine University and administered by the school's MBA candidates. The survey was conducted March 5-17, 2004.

Web site: http://www.gocsi.com/
http://www.pointsec.com/