New data from Absolute has revealed the extent to which heavy device usage has grown across enterprise and education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst also highlighting the rise in security violations and risks as a result.
According to Absolute, heavy device usage is up 49% (enterprise) and 62% (education) compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, despite gaps in device security and an alarming number of Windows 10 devices not being patched.
In fact, the average Windows 10 enterprise device was 90 days behind patching, according to Absolute’s Remote Work and Distance Learning Insights Center, with nearly three in four Windows 10 devices having versions more than a year old. What’s more, one in four enterprise endpoint devices were found to have critical security applications (anti-malware, encryption, VPN or client management) missing, inactive or out-of-date.
Christy Wyatt, president and CEO of Absolute, said: “COVID-19 marks the beginning of a new era where we believe the nature of work will be forever changed.
“As this crisis took hold, we saw our customers mobilize quickly to get devices into the hands of students and employees and navigate the challenges of standing up remote work and distance learning programs. What has become resoundingly clear is there has never been a more critical time for having undeletable endpoint resilience.”