BYOD And Mobile Devices Make IT Security A Challenge For SMBs

Last week we provided a short list of some of the key areas which affect total network security and the business costs involved in failure.  This week I want to address a specific area of network impact which is created by the trend in IT known as BYOD, Bring Your Own Device, and the growing use of mobile connections. 

BYOD and the prevalence of mobile devices connected to company networks is not a passing fad.  It is here to stay and developing processes and policies to manage it is important for managing all networks.  Employees of yesterday could not haul home their desks and file cabinets.  With the new trend there are now a number of networks, applications, and end points where data of all kinds can be accessed.  The potential for challenges have multiplied and only through careful management can they be kept in check.

Who manages & secures all of these devices?

Does the SMB have the right to enforce backup on employee owned devices which might contain corporate information?  What about encryption to ensure it does not get lost and accessed by unauthorized persons?  If that laptop or tablet gets lost or the employee goes AWOL who knows what data was involved?  These are all legitimate and important concerns which the business needs to address.

Today's businesses are playing on a much bigger field than a couple of decades ago.  Trusting your security and data control to a limited and over burdened part time internal IT resource or forgoing this altogether for emergency on call help (break/fix) when something goes wrong, is playing with fire and an invitation to get burned.

Business systems and environment have fundamentally changed

In the modern day BYOD workplace more people are transacting daily business on their personal laptops, iPads/tablets and smart phones.  They are also carrying around personal media such as thumb drives, USB sticks and CD/DVDs.

These devices are not always backed up or secured by the IT administrators.  There is not only the potential for these devices to be lost or stolen but there is very high potential that employees using them are also accessing personal email, downloading music, browsing the web, playing games and hanging out on social media sites like Facebook.  This activity can make sensitive data susceptible to malware, viruses and even hackers.  All of this substantially ups the potential of data loss incidents.

What can an SMB do?

• Enforce data security.  This addresses managing the human factor.  Rules and policies need to be set and communicated along with information stressing why they are needed.  It is critical to enlist the support and active understanding of the employees involved to be successful.  Send reminder emails about how to manage sensitive data on personal devices.  Provide assistance in setting up the appropriate protocols.  Have a password policy and reset schedule.  Stress care in opening emails or clicking links from unknown sources.  It may be necessary to restrict certain sites or sharing services if they are deemed to be a threat to secure data.  

• Stress the consequences, both personal and business of not protecting confidential data.  Encourage strong password use.  Patch holes in the infrastructure's walls which might leak data.  Consult an  IT security advisor to assist you in establishing the right match of systems for your business needs. 

• Mobile device management.  Implementing mobile device management can give the organization a semblance of control over who and what connects to the network.  Devices tapping into the network are identified and remotely monitor 24/7.  More importantly they are secured through specified password policies, encryption settings and automated compliance actions.  Lost or stolen devices can be located and either locked or wiped of any SMB data.

• Snapshots.  To enhance the ability to backup large amounts of data critical data can be stored as a snapshot, a single point in time, which can be readily available for restoration in the event of a failure.  The immediate access to a recovery process can be a significant advantage in the restoration process.

• Cloud restoration and disaster recovery services.  The cloud can provide SMBs with a cost effective, automated off site data replication process that provides continuous availability to business critical data and applications.  Cloud replication can often get get systems back on line in less than an hour following a data loss.  integration of this type of service to mobile platforms can enhance the security of data use.

The complexities of the IT environment are increased with the advent of mobile and BYOD additions to the field.  Due to the rapid growth of these tools and the benefits for accessing data in the field and while travelling the use of these tools is growing and every business IT administrator is being forced to deal with the result.  Designing your structure to ensure that security and privacy of key data is an important consideration is necessary.  Finding the tools to help you accomplish this is one way to be able to get a handle on the process.  Talking to an IT security resource can help shorten the learning curve if this is an area you have not explored before.

 

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