Check Point highlights channel encryption opportunity

Lowe: I would urge resellers to prospect for encryption opportunities

Check Point has urged its resellers to push encryption technology after finding that the majority of laptops in the UK remain unencrypted.

According to the vendor’s survey of 135 IT managers and senior IT staff, 51 per cent said they had not deployed encryption despite the recent data loss media blitz.

Check Point conducted similar surveys in 2007 and 2008 when the adoption rate inched up from 46 to 47 per cent.

Nick Lowe, Check Point's regional director for Northern Europe, said: “This demonstrates that the majority of laptops are still unencrypted. We are moving the market up per cent by per cent and I would urge resellers to prospect for encryption opportunities as they are clearly out there.”

The survey also quizzed respondents on Windows 7 adoption. 50 per cent said they had no plans to upgrade their laptops to the new operating system, with 32 per cent planning to upgrade within the next year. Some 17 per cent said they plan to upgrade within 12 to 18 months.

With Windows 7 containing more security features than its predecessor, Lowe said Microsoft was “bringing more awareness to security of the desktop”.

Dave Ellis, director of e-security at Check Point distributor Computerlinks, said resellers should be moving their customers beyond departmental deployments of encryption technology.

“With all these high-profile data loss incidents, one would have expected encryption to be more widely deployed,” he said. “The opportunity is still strong for the channel to convert the pilot opportunities to being much more widespread opportunities.”