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More Than Half Of Laptops At Risk In U.K. Organizations
Survey finds 54 percent of organizations don't have data encryption tools on their business laptops and half don't run antivirus
2 Min Read
More than half of U.K. companies don't use data encryption to protect their business laptops, and only about half have antivirus software on their machines, according to a new survey of IT executives.
Check Point Software surveyed 135 IT managers and senior IT staffers in public and private organizations and found that 51 percent don't have any data encryption on their organizations' laptops, 41 percent do, and 8 percent didn't know if they did or not.
Only 54 percent run antivirus software on their business laptops. And more than 70 percent said their organizations' laptops run a VPN client.
"It's very surprising that the losses, thefts, and malware outbreaks suffered by organizations over the past two years have had such little impact on the way organizations secure laptop PCs. These machines are the most vulnerable point in a business' IT set p, and yet they remain largely unsecured," said Nick Lowe, regional director for Check Point in Northern Europe, in a statement.
Meanwhile, about half said they have no plans to upgrade to Microsoft Windows 7; 32 percent plan to do so within the year, and 17 percent in the next 12 to 18 months. Around 80 percent today are running Windows XP and 15 percent, Vista, on their mobile machines.
They have mixed feelings about how difficult it is to lock down laptops: Forty-six percent said it's not complex to secure the machines, 45 percent said it could be simplified, and 9 percent said it's too complex.
If they were to go with Windows 7 on their laptops, 38 percent said they would upgrade their existing security software, while 9 percent said they would swap out their security software for an integrated endpoint security suite. Only 8 percent said they would run Microsoft Security Essentials, and another 30 percent said they have no "firm plans" for security and Windows 7, according to the Check Point survey.
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