Oct. 20, 2009 (PR Newswire) -- WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In an effort to help IT departments evaluate and better secure their network endpoints, such as desktops, notebooks, smart phones, MP3 players and thumb drives, Novell today announced initial results from its Threat Assessment survey which show that many enterprises are still highly vulnerable to preventable security threats. To date, the survey has revealed significant vulnerabilities, particularly in the areas of inadequate data protection, insufficient mobile access policies, and lack of application control and system integrity for endpoint devices.

Inadequate Data Protection

--  71 percent of companies said they do not encrypt data on laptops, while
73 percent of companies do not encrypt data on removable storage
devices, exposing the company to significant risk if these devices are
lost or stolen.

--  72 percent of respondents said they do not control the data that is
copied to removable storage devices or optical writers, and 78 percent
do not report what data is written to removable storage devices,
creating the potential for inappropriate data distribution and
compliance issues.

Insufficient Mobile Access Policies

--  90 percent of respondents said their end users access open, non-secured
wireless networks when outside of the office (i.e. hotspots, hotels,
coffee shops), leaving endpoints and data vulnerable to attacks.

--  76 percent of companies said that they cannot ensure system health,
integrity, and compliance of their endpoint devices when they go beyond
the perimeters of the organization.

Lack of Application Control and System Integrity

--  53 percent of respondents are not able to prevent peer-to-peer traffic
like Bit Torrent and Gnutella from accessing their networks, thereby
draining precious IT resources and creating risk that corporate data
will be accessed.

--  65 percent of respondents were unable to prevent user from accessing the
corporate network if the user lacked system integrity verification
tools, such as anti-virus software. Further, 73 percent could not stop
an out-of-compliance endpoint from propagating infections or becoming
infected.

"Endpoint security threats are evolving at a rapid pace," said Grant Ho, senior solution manager for Endpoint Management at Novell.