According to Pew Research, 64% of U.S. adults have a smartphone; and this number is up about 50% from 2011. In addition, many people admit to using their smartphone to look up sensitive health and banking information.
This demonstrates how personal the data we store on our mobile devices often is and perhaps even how easy it is to get a hold of our information, if we’re not careful. Not only are mobile devices easy to lose, (with the fancier ones being consistent theft targets); they are also notoriously insecure. This is sometimes even true when you use your device over secure connections.
With so many people using smartphones and other mobile devices in the workplace for both business and personal communications, business owners and managers need to develop an office-wide mobile security policy. Most experts would agree that in light of recent hacking and malware threats cropping up, and targeting both enterprise and government; that every company should develop a basic policy, and consult with a good managed services team to create a solid mobile security program.
The Dangers
If your employees are using their mobile devices to do company business, there are a few major ways they could put your company’s information in jeopardy. They could lose their device or damage it; or criminals could gather information while they are operating their device over a wireless connection. Both of these scenarios can lead to corporate and personal data loss or compromise.
Does Your Office Need to Make Changes?
The only way to prevent possible problems is to develop an office-wide mobile security policy that includes:
- Rules requiring specialized data encryption on all devices,
- Rules prohibiting employees from storing or carrying sensitive data like social security numbers, client files, credit card info, etc. on mobile devices; and
- Rules allowing only certain devices and brands access to the internal network in the office, (rebuilt devices and other devices without manufacturer parts don’t have manufacturer-level security, so they’re less secure)
Our managed services team can design an encryption system for your office and secure all of your employee devices — telling you which ones are secure and safe to use and which ones aren’t. They can equip your devices so that you can manage them remotely and wipe your data remotely as well in case of loss, theft, damage or some other emergency. They can also encrypt the remote connection to your office with a VPN (virtual private network).