"Hired hackers" as an underestimated danger

The survey, conducted by the market research firm OnePoll on behalf of Samsung, surveyed 4,500 office workers in seven European countries – including 1,000 in the United States – and investigated how the employees of the balancing act between professional and private life succeeded. Thus, employees often use one and the same mobile device for work and private.


Mobile freedom with borders


This allows employees to become "hired hackers," self-employed, technologically-minded employees who use the technologies and applications of their choice to do their work as efficiently as possible without sticking to their company's compliance requirements

Ignorance creates dangers


One in five, for example, bypasses security guidelines and uses its own apps, such as file sharing services such as Dropbox, which are locked to service handy. However, the European respondents are still more cautious in comparison with the European average (26%).


Also interesting is


"The study shows that users want to use their mobile devices for private and professional purposes as work and personal life grow together," explains Dr. Dimitrios Tsivrikos, consumer and business psychologist at University College London.


Work and private life in upheaval


Another result of the study shows that many employees are unaware of the security requirements for their mobile devices. The surveyed American employees are no exception here. Fortunately, however, they are more aware of the regulations than the European neighbors


22 percent of Germans use their private devices to work. For example, they send business mail from their private tablet without knowing if they are allowed to do so at all. The European average is 29 percent. The Spanish (39 percent) are the front-runners in the professional use of private mobile devices.


47 percent of American employees do not know at all whether their employer has regulations on mobile security, do not know their content or ignore the regulations. Despite this frightening figure, the United States is still below the European average (55%).


"The more private and professional life, the more companies need solutions that help them secure their use of personal and business data on their mobile devices. For this reason, tools such as Samsung KNOX are so important "Said Sascha Lekic, Director of Sales B2B, Samsung Electronics, the United States.


According to the study, 68 per cent of employees do private work during their working hours, while 77 per cent work in their spare time. 42 percent of respondents said they are more productive and can do more tasks at the same time.


Moreover, more than one-third have the feeling of being able to handle their tasks more effectively.34 percent feel even less stressed. Mobile devices play a key role here. American employees have an average of eleven personal apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp or CandyCrush and nine enterprise apps like Microsoft Outlook or Lync installed on their service smartphones. 37 percent of the surveyed employees use their private smartphone for work, while 29 percent use their business mobile phone for private purposes.


Further results at a glance


The full study report is available at www.samsungatwork.com