A new study claims that corporate mobile devices and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) phenomenon are rapidly circumventing enterprise security and policies in Canada. Seventy-one percent of more than 400 respondents in Canada agree that the use of mobile devices in the workplace is important to achieving business objectives. But 72 percent also believe that these devices put their organizations at risk -- and only half the organizations surveyed have the necessary security controls to address the risk.

"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 Fiaaz Walji, Websense Canadian Country Manager. "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."

According to a previous Ponemon Institute survey, IT respondents said 63 percent of breaches occurred as a result of mobile devices. And only 28 percent said employee desktop computers were the cause.

Today's research, conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by content security provider Websense, 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, firewalls, and passwords are not effective at stopping advanced malware and data theft from malicious or negligent insiders.

In addition, 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.