CDM-CYBER-DEFENSE-eMAGAZINE-March-2019

illion risks and threats among its customers, or about 50 per device. The sophisticated tactics
that hackers use to conduct cyberattacks are bypassing office walls to where employees – and
thus, their employers – are most vulnerable: mobile. Take phishing, for example. According to
Verizon, over 90 percent of breaches started with a phishing attack and Adestra notes that over
60 percent of emails were opened on mobile devices.
The problem is that mobile devices such as smartphones are fundamentally different from other
enterprise devices such as desktops and laptops in this vital respect: IT does not administer the
advice – the user does. Although modern collaboration techniques often require employees to
create and share unstructured company data from their mobile devices, IT does not have the
proper amount of visibility into these devices to know what threats the company data may be
facing. This explains why, in a recent survey, Zimperium found that 42 percent of organizations
were unsure if mobile devices had been involved in past security breaches involving their
organization.
Best Practices in BYOD and Mobile Security
There’s no denying that personal devices in the workplace aren’t going anywhere, given the
unparalleled value that they bring to organizations. In fact, Forbes recently reported that enabling
the mobile workforce drives 30 percent better processes and 23 percent higher productivity.
However, balancing the use of mobile with recognition of and preparation for the growing number
of cyber-risks these devices face needs to become a top priority for IT teams in 2019. Data
mandates such as Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have shown that
governments and consumers are getting serious about the security of their information. It’s
essential to keep sensitive company information secured on mobile devices in order to maintain
trust from customers and, in turn, maintain a competitive edge.
The bottom line is that organizations need to embrace a healthy mobile security policy that
protects the organization and its sensitive IP while promoting productivity on mobile devices both
inside and outside of the corporate network. For enterprises who are struggling to adopt mobile
security best practices, here are a few key things to consider when balancing BYOD and security:
• If mobile devices are being used to access corporate data, including from sources
such as email and mobile applications, the company has a responsibility to ensure
the data is protected. This applies to corporate devices as well as BYOD
devices. Perhaps the most basic and all-encompassing reason for this is that without
ensuring data is protected, companies will be out of compliance with one – or multiple –
regulations. The modern-day business environment means that every company is now a
technology company. The average company in operation today typically processes and
stores a large volume of highly sensitive employee, customer and client data that they
have an obligation to protect. Regulations such as Europe’s General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) show us that today’s consumers and employees are taking the
mismanagement of their data more seriously than ever before – and so are their
governments. In addition to avoiding millions of dollars in potential fraud and fines, the