Kensington has released finding form a North American survey done in the fourth quarter of this year, on the security risks created by bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies in the enterprise.

The report indicates that 73 percent say that BYOD represents greater security risks for their organization, and yet 59 percent still approve the use of personal devices for business usage

Research firm, MarketsandMarkets projects that the BYOD market to nearly increase fourfold in size over the next four years. Currently valued at $72 billion, MarketsandMarkets expects annual growth of 26.6 percent for a projected value of $284 billion by 2019.

The survey found that across multiple B2B vertical industries – including Education, Healthcare, Financial Services, Retail and Manufacturing – CEOs, CIOs, CSO, and IT professionals are significantly concerned with how BYOD is impacting the security of their enterprise environments. To address these concerns a number of physical security measures are being leveraged with varying adoption and as many as 55 percent report that they are considering further investments in this security area.

Among the physical security measures being used, the simplicity of using device locking mechanisms is among the most cost effective and reliable solutions an organization can put in place.

Physical security measures in use by survey respondents included:

• 64 percent use employee training and guidelines
• 61 percent use anti-malware and encryption
• 55 percent have employed compliance and governance policies
• 48 percent use data loss prevention and authentication solutions

“With the rapid rise in the use of BYOD mobile devices and laptops, organizations need to consider protecting their employees devices with physical security locks to protect them from the risk of theft and putting critical business and personal data into the wrong hands,” said Judy Barker, Global Product Marketing Manager, Kensington.

Kensington invented the first lock more than 20 years ago, and consistently introduces new, innovative products and solutions designed to protect organizations’ most vital assets – computing devices and confidential data. Kensington’s patented slot designs are integrated into over 20 million leading computing devices including Dell^®, HP^® and Lenovo^® for an additional layer of physical security for enterprises worldwide. Kensington’s family of physical security accessories, including ClickSafe^®, MicroSaver^®, SecureBack^™, Desktop and Peripherals locking kit, and the industry standard Kensington Security Slot^™, is designed to address the escalating demand for protection against loss of devices and data.