Increase in Demand for Mobile Phone Security Expected

A common trend among users is to select and deploy “consumer” mobile phones outside of IT sanctions for enterprise use; it is not surprising therefore, that recent research points to another trend: businesses beginning to spend more on mobile device security applications.

The presence of security software has been a common practice in the PC and laptop sector for many years, but not so in the mobile device arena says a new report by Juniper Research, which predicts the market for security software to protect mobile devices, including tablets, smartphones and feature phones, to reach almost $3.7 billion by 2016.

“Enterprise users are in the front line against potential security breaches through insufficient mobile security. Companies need to incorporate mobile network connected devices into the corporate network since this is the easiest way to enforce policies and to audit such devices” says report author Nitin Bhas.

The report also found that as more tablets are brought into the enterprise over the next five years, the proportion of tablets featuring security products will also increase and overtake the percentage of smartphones protected.

Although the threat landscape is formidable, today less than 1 in 20 smartphones and tablets have third-party security software installed. The research predicts that by late 2013 mobile security products will be mainstream and that by 2016 more than 277 million mobile devices will have some kind of protection installed.