The mobility of the workforce has completely exploded in recent years. Productivity gains, more options for remote work, constant availability, and better communication are all perks of the BYOD movement. However, it doesn’t come without drawbacks.
Hackers have found the BYOD movement to be an easy target. For the cybercriminal, mobile devices offer an “in” to the organization’s system. All is not lost, though. With a few key steps, you can keep your organization safe.
1. Educate
Ignorance is probably the biggest obstacle. Employees don’t normally show up to a job with everything they need to know about cybersecurity. If they’re not properly educated, they’re likely to fall victim to a phishing scam on their personal devices, which opens your system’s doors to the hackers.
Make it company policy to follow safeguards, such as never clicking on a link from an unknown person.
2. Monitor
You should be invested in bringing in the latest technology that helps you monitor what’s going on with your system. The right technology will provide you with the visibility you need to spot suspicious activity. This gives you the ability to stop an attack before anything too serious occurs. Furthermore, it can help you plan for tying up the loose/weak areas in your system.
3. Best Practices
Organizations that follow best practices are at less risk for attacks through the BYOD workplace. For example, require that all mobile devices being used on your network be password-protected and screen locked when not in use. If a device is ever lost or stolen, make it a requirement to notify the company, because the majority of lost devices are accessed, either to discover the identity of the owner or to pull data from the device.
4. Control Access
Instead of assigning network user rights to an employee account, the user rights should be assigned a role. General users shouldn’t have access to every piece of data in the company. Keep highly sensitive information for upper management only. Also, if your IT employees have access to everything, make sure they know their BYOD use should be kept separate.
At Access Tech, our goal is to make sure our clients are protected, yet not at the expense of productivity. We’re focused on making sure our clients have the best technology for their communications needs. Contact us today and let’s talk about how to put you in touch with the right technology and best security practices.
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