With the prominent increase of conversations around cloud and BYOD, most companies are having to accept that customers and employees are accessing plenty of information on their mobile devices. Workforce mobility and the security around that is becoming a hot topic in the tech space at the moment.
Digital strategies have also had to ensure that people can access their services on the go, which means data resides more so on the edge than in the core of a business’ network.
Below are some tips to ensure that we are able to be part of this modern transformation while being proactive to the risks:
- Back up your data
It becomes extremely difficult to be protected against every cyber threat in the world, more so because we don’t even know all of them and would go crazy trying to keep up! Since more and more people are using their mobile devices to access, well, everything, the ability to access data ASAP is an advantage.
- Always encrypt and incorporate secure file access and sharing to data that users need to access frequently
You may have heard of DLP (Data Loss Prevention). This can be interpreted in many ways, but for me it refers mostly to the loss of IP, or data getting into the wrong hands. DLP tools such as encryption, secure file access and sharing, restrict this to ensure you don’t become a victim.
- Ensure that you have scanning and a form of IPS or DPI to ensure safety of your core network
While users will be in and out of your firewall-protected corporate network, ensure that every connection is using secure protocols. VPNs are the most commonly-used method for this type of security, although it can also be a gateway for threats to come through undetected from a device. Remember that trust is established between a device and user credentials, not data itself.
- Have remote access to your devices
Devices with sensitive personal or business information get lost or stolen frequently. There is no telling what might happen if that information falls into the wrong hands; therefore it is important to have remote access to your devices. This will allow you to access and wipe the device remotely. This ensures that your data is protected, and if you have backed it up then wiping your stolen or lost devices should not concern you.
- Establish application and identity management
This is important because it allows a user to authenticate their credentials when trying to access a device or app. Whether the applications are cloud-based or in your physical building, you need to ensure that authentication mechanisms are in place to prevent the wrong people accessing the wrong information. Things like Single Sign On (SSO) make this easier for users and there are ways to ensure that personal cloud apps such as Skype and others are accessed securely.
There are multiple ways to make sure you are being proactive to the cyber threats around the globe, and although we can never be 100% on top of every threat imaginable, we need to make sure that there are security policies in place inside our organisations that are able to guide and enforce many of the above practices.
