Amid the growing use of mobile devices for work by federal employees, U.S. defense and intelligence agencies are fast adopting biometrics and other alternative ways of computers, smartphones and tablets, according to a new report.
More than 90% of federal agency IT officials in an online survey said their organizations provide secure mobile access for work-issued devices, but less than 20% support workers' personal devices to access most agency systems. Forty percent of those same officials voiced concern about securing personal devices, according to the online survey of federal government IT and cybersecurity officials.
The survey found that among federal workers: 33% rely on personal laptops, 49% rely on personal smartphones and 74% rely on personal tablets for work – even though federal agency IT managers don't support most of those devices.
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Cyberscoop/Fedscoop
Additionally, only 25% of federal officials surveyed said they have fully implemented ways to secure endpoints (such as using endpoint detection and response, network access control, end-to-end encryption and application control).
Even so, the U.S. government is outpacing the private sector in deploying the latest endpoint mobile security technology, a study of the survey revealed.
The survey of 167 respondents was funded by Samsung and conducted by online publications CyberScoop and FedScoop. Responses showed more than half of federal agency IT officials worry about cyberattacks using mobile devices as a means of accessing agency networks.
While 6 in 10 IT officials said that securing government-issued or personal mobile devices is a top concern over the next 12 to 18 months, many may be overlooking technology they already have to address security concerns, such as modern consumer mobile devices that support biometrics, containerization and derived credentialing.
Derived credentials refers to personal identity verification (PIV) card or common access card (CAC) technology embedded on a mobile device instead of a physical card.
