Firms urged to take mobile email lead

Despite the potential dangers of introducing mobile email into the organisation, IT departments could face even graver security risks if they ignore employee demand, says Gartner.

Mobile email can lead to data loss and identity fraud if not secured properly, but employees are likely to start using unsafe remote working methods unless IT departments take a proactive approach to deployment, Gartner analyst Monica Basso told conference delegates.

‘Security shouldn’t be seen as a reason for avoiding mobile email deployments, it should be one of the drivers,’ she said. ‘When IT departments get nervous about the potential dangers of introducing mobile email, they should look at it from a different perspective.

‘Workers want mobile email and if they don’t get it they will start looking for their own private solutions to achieve this. You can see how many additional security threats can come from employees if they start doing this.’

But Gartner warned businesses that they should put basic measures in place when rolling out mobile email. Firms should opt for a single data repository and use ‘push-technology’, which sits behind the corporate firewall, said Basso. Mobile operator products which ‘lock in’ the business should also be avoided.