A key factor in device security, no matter the OS, is keeping current with the latest available updates. While administrators might know this is important in an abstract way, there's a direct link between the measures companies take to refresh their systems and their ability to handle the latest threats to their stability, according to a report from security firm Duo Labs.
The official document, "The 2016 Duo Trusted Access Report," draws from 2 million devices to examine security trends that could impact BYOD development. One of the areas the report addressed specifically was respondent interaction with Java: the majority of devices running browsers with Java plugins (72 percent) used outdated versions, and 78 percent of devices had uninstalled Java on their browsers altogether.
By contrast, the infographic with this information also showed the same statistics as they applied to Flash. While 60 percent of devices featured browsers with out-of-date Flash plugins, only 20 percent had uninstalled these plugins, far lower than the number for Java.
"Only 20 percent of device users uninstalled Flash plugins."
If device users are just uninstalling Java plugins, IT administrators may want to consider moving away from them in general with a new, more flexible approach to managing legacy applications. Betanews quoted Duo director Mike Hanley on some of the implications of the report for BYOD operations.
"Approximately one in five access attempts for data comes from a mobile device for business use," Hanley said. "This has a huge impact on security for organizations, because when you're talking about BYOD most IT departments don't have visibility into the devices that are being targeted."
IT modernization efforts can flow more smoothly if companies focus on the HTML code that makes items easily transferable between new devices. Inventu's Flynet offers the level of agility new enterprises will need, as well as freedom from problematic applets and plugins.