CIOs worried by mobile data leaks

Tech chiefs are worried that sensitive corporate data is leaking out of businesses through lost or misused mobile gadgets.

Nine out of 10 CIOs said they do not track all the information kept on mobile devices, a survey of 200 CIOs of companies in Europe, the UK and the US by mobile device management company Mformation reveals.

Yet more than three-quarters (78 per cent) of the CIOs said they are concerned about data security, given the capacity for mobile devices to store large amounts of potentially sensitive data.

Of the CIOs surveyed, 63 per cent said employees carry sensitive customer data on their mobile devices and 28 per cent said company mobile devices are used to access corporate financial data.

One in ten of the UK CIOs surveyed claimed lost or misused mobile gadgets have led to sensitive company data being leaked, according to the research.

Bob Tarzey, service director at analyst house Quocirca, told silicon.com: "In most cases the loss of mobile devices does not lead to any confidential data being compromised because the thief or opportunist is more interested in the value of the device itself rather than the data it holds. So, the risk is often perceived rather than real."

"Having said that, data privacy regulations might still have been compromised and that can be as damaging from a reputational point of view," Tarzey added.