Mobile Security: Mitigating Risks in the 24×7 Connected World

A survey by Symantec found that an overwhelming majority of businesses are embracing mobility and equipping their employees with mobile devices.  Hundreds of millions of employees are using their smartphones now to access corporate applications and data.

CJ Desai, senior vice president, Endpoint and Mobility Group, Symantec, said that “We are impressed by the pace of mobile application adoption within organizations.  One big reason for their popularity is the increase in productivity they offer for employees in the office or on the road. It all adds up to increased reactivity for SMBs, which is a key weapon in their arsenal for competing with larger enterprises.”

Daryl Plummer, managing VP and Gartner fellow, said that “We believe the pace of change over the next four years will be breathtaking.  The popularity in mobile devices is going to produce a domino-effect on apps usage and development.”

But there are clear risks involved when adopting mobile.   The use of mobile introduces a whole range of security issues that must be addressed.  Mobile devices are easily lost and tend to be easy targets of security breaches compared to desktop PCs that are stationed behind a company firewall.  Lost equipment, lost revenue, loss of customer trust, loss of data and brand damage.  These are potential outcomes of lax mobile security.  Symantec estimates that, on average, larges companies will lose $500,000 per year due to mobile breaches; smaller companies will see losses close to $125,000.

Shantanu Ghosh, Vice-President and Managing Director (India Product Operations) of Symantec, said that “The question is no longer about allowing mobile devices in the work place, but rather how to manage and secure devices and critical information effectively and mitigate risks in a 24×7-connected world…  Mobile adoption is not without risks, and IT organisations recognise this challenge. Concerns are wide-ranging, from lost and stolen devices, data leakage, unauthorised access to corporate resources and the spread of malware infections from mobile devices to the company network.”

In addressing this inevitable trend towards adopting mobility, Symantec recommends the following five-point strategy:

• Understand the value that mobile devices can bring to the organization.  Mobile email is one feature, but mobile apps can add potentially much more.
• Provide mobile access to as many business applications as possible
• Leverage, extend and apply processes to mobile which are already in place for supporting and managing PCs
• Create and publish mobile device acceptable use policies
• Focus on security of both mobile data and data transmission

Ghosh said that “companies should consider developing a mobile strategy that defines the organisation’s mobile culture and aligns with their security risk tolerance. They need to enable broadly, think strategically, manage efficiently, enforce appropriately and secure comprehensively.”