At least 40% of the world’s mobile devices are inherently vulnerable to cyberattacks. Do you have insight into how employees utilize mobile devices in relation to your enterprise, network, and digital assets?
If you’re not entirely sure what your company’s policies are to regulate mobile device security—or if your company doesn’t have such policies whatsoever—it’s time to address this cornerstone of your workforce.
What Is Mobile Device Security?
As the remote workforce continues to grow a projected 60% from 2020 to 2024, it’s vital that your enterprise outlines cybersecurity policies pertaining to mobile devices. Such devices include, but aren’t limited to:
- Laptops
- Cell phones
- Smartwatches
- Tablets
Essentially, any portable device that is able to access, transmit, or store information related to your enterprise and its assets is included in the definition of mobile devices.
Hackers know that remote workers utilize mobile devices and that they aren’t always as secure as they should be. Therefore, recognizing and acting on the importance of fortifying your mobile devices is a smart strategy to safeguard your enterprise’s network and information.
How Does Mobile Device Security Work?
Since there are numerous types of mobile devices that might be applicable to your enterprise, there are just as many strategies to approach mobile device security protocols.
A comprehensive plan that includes clear policies and expectations, employs best practices for strong passwords, and trains employees about common sense cybersecurity practices is a foundational starting point for enhancing mobile device security at your organization.
Types of mobile security practices that you might consider for your business include:
- Virtual Private Network (VPN): This encrypted form of connection allows mobile devices to access private networks via public avenues, which keeps your information secure on both ends.
- Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB): A CASB acts as a mediator between user and network, ensuring that security protocols are followed and that malicious activity is identified as soon as possible.
- Secure Web Gateway: This cybersecurity measure stops phishing and malware attacks in real-time to keep network security tight.
- Enterprise Mobile Management (EMM) Platform: Implementing an EMM platform empowers your internal IT team to monitor suspicious activity and track patterns of cyberattacks.
- Endpoint Protection: This approach to mobile device security safeguards your enterprise’s networks by enforcing security policies and notifying your team of any detected threats
3 Benefits of Mobile Device Security
There are a variety of benefits to including and enforcing mobile device security protocols for your organization, including:
“Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) Protection
When employees use their personal devices to complete work for your enterprise, a BYOD security policy applies to them. Implementing cybersecurity protections that regulate these devices will greatly strengthen your enterprise’s security posture; consider outlining the following measures in your BYOD policy:
- The use of device tracking software for work purposes, if appropriate
- Which apps are not allowed to be downloaded—did you know that around 24,000 malicious mobile apps are blocked every day?
- Establishing which mobile device security protocols are required, such as multi-factor authentication
Determining the components of your company’s mobile device security practices can help fortify your employees' personal devices when used in a work setting.
Maintaining Compliance with Certain Regulations
Does your enterprise need to maintain compliance with certain regulations, such as HIPAA or GDPR? When mobile devices are part of your operations, they have to be compliant with these policies too.
Regulating how mobile devices exist within your work setting will help ensure that your organization is not found to be out of compliance with these important elements of cybersecurity.
Automated Cybersecurity Measures
Cybersecurity automation is a cornerstone of your company’s security posture—when your internal IT team doesn’t have to manually address repetitive, tedious tasks, they can address more pressing matters.
With automated security measures in place regarding mobile devices involved at your enterprise, you won’t have to worry about vulnerabilities infiltrating your network via unsecured devices.
How to Fortify Mobile Device Security at Your Enterprise
Determining your mobile device security priorities can help you create the best cybersecurity policies to ensure your enterprise is protected.
First, Assess Your Risks
The first step to creating a mobile device security plan is to identify and assess the risks associated with them in relation to your enterprise. For example, do you have employees who work abroad? Or does your organization handle personal health information remotely?
Understanding what your company needs to protect—and how your digital assets might be at risk—empowers you to determine the best course of action.
Next, Determine the Appropriate Solution
Perhaps you need to offer remote workers secured mobile hotspots in order to ensure that your network is protected when working in a public setting, or require that they access a virtual private network when handling sensitive information.
Whatever you and your internal IT team decide to implement as a plan of action, be sure that employee training is part of it. Your cybersecurity policies might be weakened by employees simply not knowing the purpose of the policies or their role in maintaining them.
Finally, Stay Up On It
Cyber criminals are constantly evolving the frequency and sophistication of their threats; as such, your company’s mobile device security policies should be updated when needed to anticipate these attacks and stay current with best practices.
Establish a timeline of when policies need to be reviewed so that your network and assets remain protected against new threats.
Compuquip Can Help Secure Your Enterprise’s Mobile Devices
In today’s remote workforce world, securing the mobile devices that interact with your network and information is more important than ever.
Need help securing the mobile devices used on your business’ network? Reach out to the Compuquip team today to learn more about increasing network security and securing mobile devices.
