As if IT departments and business heads don’t already have enough headaches, it’s now revealed that your next batch of employees could increase your exposure to digital threats and corporate data loss on mobile devices. At least that’s what Aruba Networks’ recent study, titled “Securing #GenMobile: Is Your Business Running the Risk?” revealed.
“Unfortunately, a generation weaned on mobile apps can present significant security challenges for businesses worried about the loss of customer and financial data. In fact, many of the behaviours revealed in the study reads like the “Must Not Do” section of a company compliance manual.”
#GenMobile is the term that’s used to describe a generation of people who have shaped their personal and working lives around mobile devices. From an earlier study, we found that 86 percent of #GenMobile owns at least two mobile devices. They are more likely to check their devices before brushing their teeth in the morning. They also expect to have the same freedom to use mobile devices at work, the way they do in their personal lives.
“There’s an app for that”
Unfortunately, a generation weaned on mobile apps can present significant security challenges for businesses worried about the loss of customer and financial data. In fact, many of the behaviours revealed in the study reads like the “Must Not Do” section of a company compliance manual.
For starters, 6 out of 10 respondents are happy to share their personal and work smartphones with others. 70 percent say they have revealed or would consider revealing the passwords on their work devices.
What’s worrying is that #GenMobile attitudes toward data loss and rules governing the use of mobile devices are equally lackadaisical. Nearly a third of workers admit to having lost data due to the misuse of a mobile device, while more than half of #GenMobile employees are willing to break the rules if they feel it “gets the job done”.
Still, it’s not all bad: #GenMobile’ mobile behaviours are motivated primarily by the desire to collaborate openly and freely, which can bring significant benefits to the business. So what can businesses do to harness the potential of #GenMobile employees, without losing control of security?
Great mobile security starts in the air
A good place to start is to put in place a secure, yet adaptable, wireless network within the workplace. Here are a few things to consider:
Deploy flexible security policies that are capable of analysing – and acting on – the context of how the employee is using the mobile device. For instance, does the person have the authority to access the information? Where is he or she accessing it from, and from what device? Depending on the context, different policies can be applied to make sure that the right balance between flexibility and security can be applied on an individual-by-individual basis.
Regulate Wi-Fi traffic with intelligent policy firewalls that can keep track of app usage. This ensures that different apps are classified according to its security rating based on the role of the employee within the organization. These apps would be allowed to be used on select mobile devices by select users, only if they satisfy live security monitoring by the policy firewall and cloud-powered content filtering.
Make sure that all communications over the air are encrypted and sent over secure channels. This requires a smart combinationof encryption and VPN-on-demand technologies that prevent information from being snooped on, and – even in the event that the information falls into the wrong hands – is rendered gibberish.
So, there are ways for employers to keep their #GenMobile employees happy and productive, without sacrificing mobile security. By all means, organisations should embrace #GenMobile’s penchant for openness, innovation and collaboration; but only when they can understand and plan for the security risks these behaviours bring along.
