BYOD initiatives offer new opportunities for consumer security: Gartner

Says consumer adoption and willingness to pay for antivirus software on mobile devices is low

Consumer security providers have an opportunity to develop solutions for supporting 'bring your own device' (BYOD) initiatives as an increasing number of office goers are using personal mobile devices for official work, research firm Gartner said today.

Gartner believes that high consumer use of personal mobile devices for work purposes means security providers have an opportunity to assist enterprise BYOD initiatives, it said in a release today.

However, consumer adoption and willingness to pay for antivirus software on mobile devices is low, it added.

"Use of personal devices at work matches high enterprise demand for solutions to BYOD security problem. This presents providers of both consumer and enterprise endpoint security products with an opportunity to enforce security to private devices and potentially expand their footprint into consumer space," Gartner Research Director Ruggero Contu said.

Product managers at consumer security providers need to adopt strategies that allow consumer security use on personal devices in the enterprise workplace, he added.

Gartner predicts that 30 per cent of consumer product selection criteria will be based on requirements to secure new mobile computing platforms by 2015.

The low use of security products on new mobile platforms, combined with decreasing PC sales, will create challenges for providers in the consumer security market, it said.

Gartner estimates that the average IT-savvy consumer, with higher understanding of heavier use of IT equipment, has five or more devices at home that connect to the Internet.

However, consumers are far more likely to have an antivirus program installed on their laptops and desktops while tablets, mobile phones and gaming systems that connect to the Internet are often left unprotected, it added.

"The current awareness of security and its impact on users of mobile devices is likely to change," Contu said.

Gartner expects attacks to focus increasingly on mobile platforms as they become more popular. This is likely to make consumers show more interest in security products that address mobile devices and acquire mobile security as part of a broader consumer endpoint security platform, he added.