National Survey Shows Widespread Concern About Mobile Device Security and its Impact on the Adoption of New Services

Users Report That Security Concerns are Preventing Them from Adopting New Services, such as Mobile Financial Transactions and Purchases

San Francisco—June 23, 2009—The results of a newly released consumer survey commissioned by Cloudmark, Inc., the global leader in carrier-grade messaging security, and conducted by Harris Interactive® found that nearly two thirds of mobile device owners are concerned about the security of their devices. The survey, which polled 1,812 U.S. adults who own mobile devices, shows that security concerns are preventing many users from adopting new mobile services for financial transactions and shopping. Meanwhile, mobile spam was also shown to be impacting a significant portion of mobile device owners.

Although new applications and services are rapidly emerging for mobile devices, survey results showed that users' perception of security is proving to be a significant barrier to their adoption, especially for mobile financial transactions. Noteworthy findings include:

65 percent of all mobile device owners expressed concerns about the security of their device
Nearly half (46 percent) of these concerned device owners said that their worries about security prevented them from conducting activities on their mobile device
Of the activities mobile device owners said they were prevented from doing because of their concerns, financial transactions such as paying bills (73 percent), conducting banking activities (71 percent) and shopping (56 percent) were named most often
79 percent of mobile device owners said that they have never sent or received confidential information of any kind through their device, which may further illustrate their lack of confidence in security

Mobile devices are now an integral part of today's busy lifestyle, and new applications and services are proliferating to support the need for on-the-go convenience. Mobile operators also have a vested interest in supporting these offerings as an additional revenue stream. However, as convenient as these offerings are, the data from this study suggests that users may require additional assurance that mobile transactions can be conducted securely before they are willing to fully leverage these services.

Mobile device owners also indicated that mobile spam has established a highly visible presence on networks, with 44 percent of owners indicating that they have received spam on their mobile device. Device owners who have received mobile spam reported the following as the most common types of mobile spam they received:

Messages asking them to call another number (45 percent)
Messages containing a link to another Web site (42 percent)
Messages encouraging them to disclose of personal information (29 percent). These messages are also known as phishing, and can lead to identity theft and fraud
Messages from a person or entity posing as a trusted contact/source (24 percent)

"The prevalence of spam will only continue to rise as financial gain for spammers continues to increase," said Jamie de Guerre, CTO of Cloudmark. "For new services to succeed, it will be imperative for mobile operators to assure their customers of a secure environment for transactions, and to ensure that mobile spam does not impact the delivery of legitimate messages."

For a full copy of the survey results and methodology, please visit: http://www.cloudmark.com/mobilesurvey

Survey Methodology

Harris Interactive® fielded the study on behalf of Cloudmark, Inc., from May 27-29, 2009 via its QuickQuerySM online omnibus service, interviewing a nationwide sample of 2,028 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older, of whom 1,812 own a mobile device. Data were weighted using propensity score weighting to be representative of the total U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity, and propensity to be online. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For full survey results and full methodology please contact Dave Bowker at (781) 684-0770, or cloudmark@schwartz-pr.com.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research, powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.