Around 75 per cent of mobile apps will fail to meet basic enterprise security needs throughout 2015, leaving businesses open to potential attacks or violations of enterprise security policies, according to Gartner.

In addition, the analyst firm estimates that the same proportion of mobile security breaches from now until 2017 will be the result of mobile app misconfigurations, rather than technical attacks on devices.

Dionisio Zumerle, principal research analyst at Gartner, explained that organisations that embrace mobile computing and bring your own device (BYOD) strategies are at risk of security breaches “unless they adopt methods and technologies for mobile application security testing and risk assurance”.

According to Zumerle, more than 90 per cent of enterprises use third-party commercial apps for their mobile BYOD strategies, meaning that sufficient application security testing is needed.

“App stores are filled with applications that mostly prove their advertised usefulness. Nevertheless, enterprises and individuals should not use them without paying attention to their security,” the analyst said.

He added that most enterprises are “inexperienced” when it comes to mobile app security, with testing often done casually by developers whose primary concern is functionality rather than security.

By 2017, Gartner predicts that smartphones and tablets will become the focus for endpoint breaches. Even now, there are three attacks on mobile devices for every desktop attack.

Security features on mobile devices are not sufficient to minimise these breaches, meaning enterprises should focus on data protection “through usable and efficient solutions” such as application containment.