Samsung Warns Of Security Risks As UK Staff Use Personal Phones For Work

British workers are increasingly using work devices to perform personal tasks and vice versa, but many are unaware of any corporate mobile policies while others choose to actively ignore such requirements, according to research from Samsung.

The Korean manufacturer surveyed 4,500 workers across Europe and found that three quarters perform personal work tasks during working hours, while 77 percent do the opposite. UK workers are less likely to do so, but almost two thirds engage in similar practices, but almost nine in every ten Italian respondents say they blur the lines between the office and the home.

Those who choose to mix different types of task claim they have a better work-life balance, with 40 percent claiming they get more done in the same time, 34 percent saying this allows them to handle personal tasks better and 28 percent saying it makes them less stressed.

Work-life blend

“With the rise of mobile devices in the workplace it’s not surprising that work and life tasks are starting to blend,” says Graham Long, vice president of Samsung UK’s Enterprise Business Team. “There is increasing demand from people to be able to do more on one device – whether that’s to work remotely or spend time online shopping during their commute – and a clear challenge for businesses to embrace new ways of working but ensure all devices are highly secure and efficient.”

UK workers have on average nine personal applications on their work smartphone and eight work apps on their business device, but this has its pitfalls. A third of respondents use their personal handsets to get around company-imposed restrictions, while 36 percent use their own phones for work purposes without knowing or caring whether they are allowed to.

Two thirds of UK employees are completely unaware of whether their company has a mobile security policy or actively ignore its contents, compared to 55 percent of Europeans. Naturally, Samsung believes its Knox enterprise mobility management platform can help out.

Samsung Knox push

“Neglecting security can be a very expensive mistake to make,” adds Long. “It’s for this reason that a tool like Samsung Knox is so important: among other things it allows employees to switch between personal apps and a password-protected workspace on the same device, as circumstances demand.”

Since its launch in October 2012, Samsung claims to have sold more than 25 million Knox-enabled devices and that the platform has already attracted more than one million users, with more than 210,000 activated each month. It has also been approved for use within the UK government and by the US military.

Knox 2.0 was shown off at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona earlier this year, adding two-factor authentication, dual billing and support for third-party containers, as the Korean manufacturer gears up for a major push into the enterprise to offset any potential decline in the consumer smartphone space.

Do you know all about Samsung? Take our quiz!