If the weakest link in Security or the equal parts of security : People, Process, and Technology, then we need to help the people in your organization with keeping up with security changes and threats without a large training expense. Not everyone wants to become an IT geek to be more secure.
So why are we down this rabbit hole?
What happens that can cause problems for people?
#1 call to tech support are password problems – But I don’t want to get in more detail for this issue, as I have done that already: http://oversitesentry.com/best-password-management/ and other posts (search with password keyword in the search box on this site)
How about ‘lost’ or stolen phones, tablets, and laptops?
When searching for solutions on this topic I like to use the key word “enterprise” to make sure and see what the very large organizations do with this problem.
My search went to Enterprise Mobility Management(EMM)
A BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy increases the complexity of the security solution if you let it. No one wants to be in charge of telling your workers what apps to install on your device, and there will be security lapses.
So how to manage this?
Ideally we want to erase or find the stolen/lost mobile device.
So we can find first, but if not recovered at a certain point then we need to erase files.
Depending on the size of your organization and how you use mobile devices (what is actually kept on them) will depend on how fast you push the erase button.
Now that we are armed with some good keywords and requirements where does that lead us?
Implementation and organizational issues arise. How do we actually control the devices with the least amount of effort and administration?
This is where a cloud service would be very useful.
We don’t just want another anti-virus anti-malware solution for the mobile devices, but we want to manage the potential lost/stolen devices.
Also Mobile Device Management seems to be a good explanation of this Security need
This is where I found the image:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/sap-we-have-17-5-million-mobile-users-influencer-summit-recap-slides/
I also have direct experience with Sophos Mobile apps which can perform most of the functions that we need such as the app “Sophos Mobile Security”
https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/mobile-control.aspx
- Loss& Theft function (delete files)
- Scanner (antivirus)
- App Protection (adds password on apps you designate
- web filtering (does not allow access to some web addresses)
- suggested settings for more security (training)
Hopefully i have started your research or got your thoughts going on what to do with your mobile devices, especially when someone calls you and says: ” I lost my phone and had my company email on it”. I really hope you have a good answer for that call.