"You cannot be secure and connected at the same time- it doesn't happen."

Piff added that the minute executives were allowed to have smartphones and tablets on the network, the IT manager needed to accept that there would be a level of insecurity in the organisation.

Commoditisation of IT security features

According to IDC APAC predictions, the commoditisation of security features such as firewalls was leading people to assume that if it was being delivered by the IT department then this made it secure.

"These days people think they have a firewall because they've got some [security] software on their laptop," he said.