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51 percent of organizations lose data through mobile devices, while 59 percent of employees dodge security controls, according to a new  “Global Study on Mobility Risks” unveiled at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, USA.

The “Global Study on Mobility Risks” by Ponemon Institute.

Mobile devices help business, but security is needed to prevent costly data loss.

Corporate mobile devices and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) phenomenon are rapidly circumventing enterprise security and policies. This survey defines mobile devices as laptops, USB drives, smartphones, and tablets.

“IT has spent years working on desktop security and trying to prevent data loss over web and email channels—but mobile devices are radically changing the game,” said Tom Clare, senior director of Product Marketing Management.Seventy-seven percent of more than 4,600 respondents in 12 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Mexico, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the United States) surveyed agree that the use of mobile devices in the workplace is important to achieving business objectives.

But 76 percent also believe that these devices put their organizations at risk—and only 39 percent have the necessary security controls to address the risk.

The study was conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by content security provider Websense Inc, and is designed to help IT security professionals plan for an increasingly mobile workforce.

“Tablets and iOS devices are replacing corporate laptops as employees bring-their-own-devices to work and access corporate information. These devices open the door to unprecedented loss of sensitive data. IT needs to be concerned about the data that mobile devices access and not the device itself,” Clare added.The research shows that organizations often don’t know how and what data is leaving their networks through non-secure mobile devices.

Traditional static security solutions such as antivirus (AV), firewalls, and passwords are not effective at stopping advanced malware and data theft threats from malicious or negligent insiders.

To safely permit corporate use of mobile devices, Websense has released its new Websense TRITON Mobile Security solution.

Sixty-five percent of respondents are most concerned with employees taking photos or videos in the workplace—probably due to fears about the theft or exposure of confidential information.

Other unacceptable uses include downloading and using internet apps (44 percent) and using personal email accounts (43 percent).