MobileIron Research Reveals QR Codes Pose Significant Security Risks to Enterprises and End Users
September 15 2020 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
Majority of Respondents Scan QR Codes Despite
Security Risks
MobileIron, (NASDAQ: MOBL), the mobile-centric security platform
for the Everywhere Enterprise, today announced the results of a new
consumer sentiment study, which revealed QR codes are rising in
popularity and use. Sixty-four percent of respondents stated that
QR codes make life easier in a touchless world – despite a majority
of people lacking security on their mobile devices, with 51% of
respondents stating they do not have or do not know if they have
security software installed on their mobile devices.
Mobile devices have become even more important and ingrained in
everyone’s lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, and nearly half
(47%) of respondents have noticed an increase in QR code use. At
the same time, employees are using mobile devices – and in many
cases, their own unsecured devices – more than ever before to
connect with others, interact with a variety of cloud-based
applications and services, and stay productive as they work from
anywhere. Many employees are also using their mobile devices to
scan QR codes in their everyday lives, putting themselves and
enterprise resources at risk.
Below are some stats on how QR codes have skyrocketed in
popularity and use during the pandemic, with no signs of slowing
down:
- 84% of people have scanned a QR code before, with 32% most
recently having scanned a QR code in the past week and 26% most
recently having scanned a QR code in the past month.
- In the last six months, 38% of respondents have scanned a QR
code at a restaurant, bar or café; 37% of respondents have scanned
a QR code at a retailer; and 32% have scanned a QR code on a
consumer product.
- 53% of respondents want to see QR codes used more broadly in
the future.
- 43% of respondents plan to use a QR code as a payment method in
the near future.
- 40% of people would vote using a QR code received in the mail,
if it was an option.
Hackers are also capitalizing on security gaps during the
COVID-19 pandemic and increasingly targeting mobile devices with
sophisticated attacks. Mobile devices are appealing targets for
hackers because the mobile user interface prompts users to take
immediate actions, while limiting the amount of information
available. Plus, users are often distracted when on their mobile
devices, making them more likely to fall victim to attacks.
“Hackers are launching attacks across mobile threat vectors,
including emails, text and SMS messages, instant messages, social
media and other modes of communication,” said Alex Mosher, Global
Vice President of Solutions, MobileIron. “I expect we’ll soon see
an onslaught of attacks via QR codes. A hacker could easily embed a
malicious URL containing custom malware into a QR code, which could
then exfiltrate data from a mobile device when scanned. Or, the
hacker could embed a malicious URL into a QR code that directs to a
phishing site and encourages users to divulge their credentials,
which the hacker could then steal and use to infiltrate a
company.”
Below are some stats on how QR codes pose significant risks to
both end users and enterprises:
- Almost three-fourths (71%) of respondents cannot distinguish
between a legitimate and malicious QR code, whereas 67% of those
surveyed are able to distinguish between a legitimate and malicious
URL.
- While most respondents (67%) are aware that QR codes can open a
URL, they are less aware of the other actions that QR codes can
initiate.
- Only 19% of respondents believe scanning a QR code can draft an
email; 20% believe scanning a QR code can start a phone call; and
24% believe scanning a QR code can initiate a text message.
- 51% of respondents have privacy, security, financial or other
concerns about using QR codes, but still use them anyway; 34% have
no concerns about using QR codes.
- 35% of respondents are unsure whether hackers can target
victims using a QR code.
“Companies need to urgently rethink their security strategies to
focus on mobile devices,” continued Mosher. “At the same time, they
need to prioritize a seamless user experience. A unified endpoint
management solution can provide the IT controls needed to secure,
manage and monitor every device, user, app and network being used
to access business data, while maximizing productivity.
Organizations can also build upon UEM with a mobile threat defense
solution to detect and remediate mobile threats, including
malicious QR codes, even when a device is offline.”
MobileIron Threat Defense can protect devices from attacks waged
at the device, network and application level. And there is no end
user action required to deploy MTD on mobile devices that are
enrolled in MobileIron’s UEM client; this is remotely managed by IT
departments. As a result, organizations can achieve 100% user
adoption, without impacting productivity. MobileIron is the only
solution on the market that can automatically deploy mobile threat
protection without users needing to take any action.
The study polled over 2,100 consumers across the U.S. and the
U.K. To view a full list of stats, please visit here.
About MobileIron
MobileIron is redefining enterprise security with the industry’s
first mobile-centric security platform for the Everywhere
Enterprise. In the Everywhere Enterprise, corporate data flows
freely across devices and servers in the cloud, empowering workers
to be productive anywhere they need to work. To secure access and
protect data across this perimeter-less enterprise, MobileIron
leverages a zero trust approach, which assumes bad actors are
already in the network and secure access is determined by a “never
trust, always verify” model.
MobileIron’s platform combines award-winning and
industry-leading unified endpoint management (UEM) capabilities
with passwordless multi-factor authentication (Zero Sign-On) and
mobile threat defense (MTD) to validate the device, establish user
context, verify the network, and detect and remediate threats to
ensure that only authorized users, devices, apps, and services can
access business resources in a “work from everywhere” world. Over
20,000 organizations, including the world’s largest financial
institutions, intelligence agencies, and other highly regulated
companies, have chosen MobileIron to enable a seamless and secure
user experience in the Everywhere Enterprise.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200915005151/en/
Media contact: Jenny Pfleiderer press@mobileiron.com
Analyst contact: Becca Chambers bchambers@mobileiron.com
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