Brought up in a world where mobile devices are an integral part of everyday life, Generation Mobile is defined by a productivity-focused attitude that finds it as easy to share a status update as it does a password or mobile device with a colleague. This kind of workforce is both an asset and a threat to business, says Chris Kozup, Senior Director, Aruba Networks.

To identify the true nature of this new type of employee, Aruba Networks surveyed 11,500 workers in 23 countries, asking them detailed questions about their work, their approach to data and their take on corporate and personal security in a technological landscape dominated by mobile devices.

Generation Mobile are generally young (18-35), highly effective and mostly indifferent to computer security. As the name suggests, are 100% comfortable with mobility, flexible working and using multiple mobile devices to get the job done. Generation Mobile will stop at nothing to get their work tasks completed, and 51% say that mobile technologies enable them to be more productive and engaged at work.

This fervent need to get things done means 56% will disobey their managers to complete a task — while three-quarters are happy to take IT issues into their own hands without getting in touch with their IT department.

Sharing is also a risk factor, as 60% of respondents reported being happy to let others use their work mobile devices at least once a month, while a fifth don’t have passwords on their mobile devices at all, in part to make sharing easier.

Despite security risks, this new generation is already contributing to the overall health of the finance sector. They bring big-thinking creativity, better collaboration and new ways of doing things; priceless in an era when consumer behaviour is changing at an incredible speed. Yet the impact of a security breach is both seismic and often irreparable.