Many businesses provide their employees with smartphones and/or tablets to use when they are on the go. Although having any time anywhere access to corporate systems is at minimum convenient, for some businesses it is absolutely necessary. For those companies who allow BYOD (bring your own device) access to corporate data, it is even more important to ensure that staff members follow proper security protocols when using their own devices. In this post, we’ll outline 5 tips for ensuring corporate mobile device use remains safe and secure.
Understand the Goal
Although it is always regrettable when a mobile device is lost or stolen, the loss of the physical device itself is not as important as the possibility of exposing valuable corporate data to hostile actors. Understanding that the goal of security and protection surrounding mobile device use is primarily about keeping data secure, helps companies clearly understand what it is they need to protect.
Craft a Comprehensive IT Policy
Most employees understand they need to follow security protocols when using company-owned desktop PCs, but the same goes for any corporate mobile use as well. Organizations should include mobile device usage in their corporate IT policies and instruct all their employees to follow those IT policies even when they are using mobile devices to conduct company business.
Security Software for Mobile Devices
As part of their formal IT policy, companies need to enforce the use of security software on all mobile devices used for corporate purposes. Hackers and data thieves know that mobile use is actually more prominent than traditional PC use, so it’s important to deter the increasing threats.
Use Data Encryption
It is possible to encrypt (scramble), confidential information such as corporate emails, documents, photos, etc. that often reside on mobile devices. Ask your IT staff to install encryption software to protect these types of data on mobile units.Â
Judicious Use of Bluetooth
Most mobile devices have the Bluetooth feature turned on by default. This means that any employee who visits a coffee shop, hotel lobby, or enters into another company with their mobile device, can potentially be exposing an unwanted connection to corporate data. To prevent this, companies need to instruct employees on how to enable security features so these scenarios won’t happen, or have them turn off the feature altogether.
If you would like to know more about creating a comprehensive mobile device security plan for your organization, please contact us.
