Nearly 90% of enterprises still have no processes in place for tracking data stored on mobile devices, according to research published by mobile device management company Mformation.

The survey, which polled 200 CIOs from enterprises across the UK, US and continental Europe, found that a further 40% of companies are unable to trace each mobile device on their network to an employee. Such poor mobile device practices puts the vast majority of organisations at risk of breaching data protection regulations, the survey indicates.

Matt Bancroft, vice president at Mformation, says the findings were worse than Mformation had anticipated. “We expected there to be some companies who were still unaware of exactly what data their employees carry on their mobile devices, but to have nine out of ten businesses say they don’t know what is on company devices is incredible.”

More than 60% of companies said employee mobile devices hold sensitive information, including customer data, emails, financial data and information relating to sales figures. In the UK alone, 10% of companies admit to suffering data leakage through the loss or misuse of a mobile device.

Many CIOs are growing increasingly aware of the problem however, with 78% indicating that they are now concerned about mobile data security. During the next five years, 55% believe the loss of data through mobile devices will become a “significant issue”.