Secrets, sabotage and the superfast revolution

Many CEOs and their CTOs are paranoid about the security of their company’s data – and rightly so.

Leaks and loss can be the difference between success and failure for game-changing products, services and strategies.

And while concern about how secure your company data is should absolutely be front of mind for any self-respecting leader, it also has the danger to paralyse a business if fear alone rules the roost.

In the era of superfast mobile connectivity this is all about to change, and security will evolve to become a key positive enabler of next-generation business.

With the arrival of 4G people now have faster connectivity in the palm of their hand or at the swipe of a fingertip than in the office or at home. This marks a huge step change in making the mobile device far more than just a tool to access emails on the go.

Superfast mobile broadband and cloud-based applications enable employees to access business and customer data in real-time, download and upload large files and do other high bandwidth tasks such as video conferencing. It is also changing customer behaviour as they embrace mobile channels.

High-tech but low-low cost mobile security provides a way for organisations to embed mobile processes across the workforce, customers and operations. It gives businesses confidence to securely enable business data and applications across mobile channels and devices.

Some of the key security threats organisations must tackle include:

Lost and stolen devices: Over the last year almost 10 million mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops holding sensitive business data have been lost by employees across Britain according to research carried out by EE. Loss or theft remains the top cause of mobile-related corporate data loss.

Unsecure networks: Employees accessing business information from their mobile device over unknown or unsecure Wi-Fi or other networks puts that data at risk.

Data leakage: Consumer cloud storage and file sharing services enable employees, deliberately or unintentionally, to leak corporate data out of company control.

Diverse mobile environments: Unlike the desktop world the mobile world embraces a variety of major operating systems and device manufacturers and, through trends such as bring your own device (BYOD), many organisations are no longer able to standardise around one platform or device.

To fully reap the rewards of the mobile workforce and Total Enterprise Mobility requires organisations to allow secure mobile access to the critical content, data and applications that employees need for their job.

This needs a comprehensive Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) strategy that incorporates three key pillars. These are:

Mobile Device Management (MDM): MDM allows organisations to set and enforce password policies, encrypt data and remotely lock or wipe handsets or tablets in the case of them being reported lost or stolen.

Mobile Application Management (MAM): MAM focuses on the mobile application layer and controls the provisioning and access to apps - whether internally developed or from a commercial app store. It is designed to keep company apps and data secure using techniques such as containerisation.

Mobile Content Management (MCM): MCM enables organisations to control the content layer when it goes mobile and allow employees to securely access, share, collaborate, edit and send documents, presentations, sales reports and other information from their devices on the go.

Next-generation business in the mobile century is far more than just improving workforce productivity. It is also about engaging with customers better driving innovation and new business opportunities. Mobile security is a key enabler of this as superfast connectivity drives radical business and consumer change.

Photo credit: futureatlas.com