Mobile device management (MDM) is software that allows IT professionals to control, secure and enforce policies on smartphones, tablets and other portable devices that hold organisational data. As it is becoming more and more common to use portable devices for work, such as a laptop or mobile phone when travelling, it is essential to think about securing these from cyberattacks.
If you provide portable devices to your staff members, they can greatly benefit from this convenient method of working. But there are significant security considerations that you need to take into account before you give access to your internal network. You need to think about the following:
- Physical security: There is not much you can do for the physical security of the devices but take into account the fact that they are more likely to get lost and stolen than the devices in the office.
- Network security: Businesses have secure and controlled networks within their physical building that are patched and updated regularly to prevent cyber attackers from accessing privileged information. With a mobile device, your employees are able to connect to public Wifi that isn’t secured and which can get hacked easier by cybercriminals. In addition, these networks themselves are able to see sensitive data because other people manage the routing equipment.
- Device security: If it’s a personal device that’s sometimes used for work purposes, your organisation may not manage the device. Your employees will need to stay on top of software updates and control the security of the device.
It is important to educate and prepare your employees for cyberattacks and what to look out for. We also suggest that any mobile device is managed by the IT professionals from the business to keep on top of updates, patches and oversee what is installed and what files are opened.
How to successfully perform Mobile Device Management?
It’s important that your employees understand the significance of keeping devices secure, even when they aren’t at the physical office. Let your team know that this isn’t a way to control what they are doing on their personal or work devices but a way to safeguard organisational data. To implement MDM within your business successfully, you need to think about the following aspects:
- Identify which mobile devices hold organisational data and are considered to be authorised mobile devices. These can be both provided by the businesses or personally.
- Use a central Mobile Device Management system to protect all devices. This provides the simplest way to keep track of software, configurations and any updates that need to be completed on the devices.
- You can set rules and policies in the central management system to control organisational network and system access. These will assess the security of the device, operating system and Wifi network and allow access to the data if they are considered safe.
Who needs Mobile Device Management?
Every organisation whose employees have portable mobile devices that access organisational data remotely should have a Mobile Device Management process in place. This ensures the protection of organisational data and reduces the likelihood of cyberattacks.
Canda can support the protection of your business’ network and support you in setting up a successful Mobile Device Management process. Get in touch with us today if you would like to secure your organisational data on portable mobile devices!
