Portable Device Security On Your Network

I'm frequently stunned by the lack of attention being given to the security risks of portable computing devices on business networks by SMB management.  Especially with more and more applications being used in the cloud, security for personal device is more important than ever.

The current term is BYOD as in Bring Your Own Device and businesses have to recognize that employees CAN be more productive using these devices but without proper planning for security the risks to business can be dramatic.

Especially if you're in a regulated industry like health care, the risk of exposure of confidential personal information is enormous as are the financial penalties associated with those exposures. 

A 2010 study by Ponemon Institute, found that data breaches of patient information cost healthcare organizations nearly $6 billion annually, and that many breaches go undetected.  As portable computing devices proliferate in the workplace that number is probably going to go up exponentially.

Administrators must look to protect all layers of the mobile computing environment – both the endpoint devices and the communication channels that connect the device to the network. Some strategies that are effective include:

• Network access controls to ensure outsiders cannot hack into the wireless network and infiltrate devices
• Education to help users be smarter about how they use and protect their mobile devices
• Improved authentication to control device access.
• Many organizations use role-based policies to control who has access to what applications, when and on what devices access is permitted.

There are a wealth of portable device management solutions once you determine that you're going to allow employees to use their own devices for business purposes.  There's no one-size-fits-all solution for everybody so if you need help in developing a policy for portable device use on or off campus or need help picking the most appropriate solution based upon your unique circumstances, don't hesitate to give me a call @ 847-639-7000.

For those of you that would like to see a short 6 minute video by Symantec on the possible ways to secure portable devices, here is a link to a video by them: http://bcove.me/wy22iac5

Have a good weekend!