Mobile Security Tips
The Six Laws of Mobile Security from RedCannon Security include best practices and tips for enterprises worldwide, as the companies seek to improve mobile efficiency, reduce remote access threats and prevent data leakage.
1. Define Acceptable Use -- Organizations must implement security policies for portable devices that cover remote access, authentication, device storage, acceptable use and encryption.
2. Educate Employees Frequently -- Often, employees see security policies as barriers to productivity, unless they fully understand the risks and the importance of reducing these risks. Security awareness campaigns are key to helping staff understand the reasons for the policies and to become active partners in security. Education programs should focus on the risk the policy is designed to mitigate and demonstrate how appropriate controls protect the employee. Training programs should also be augmented with regular communication of new threats, vulnerabilities, policies and individual accountability.
3. Manage Mobile Devices Centrally -- Many organizations are not even aware of the number of devices connecting to their networks, or from where. Centralized management of mobile devices enables organizations to track usage and enforce security policies remotely, including the ability to lock a mobile device after a number of incorrect attempts to guess a password, or destroy data when a device is reported lost or stolen.
4. Encrypt Mobile Data -- Before implementing a security solution to manage ports and control devices, IT managers should also sketch out how encryption fits into their plans, including how encryption should be implemented, who must encrypt data, from where users can access encrypted data, and how much responsibility falls on the user to encrypt data.
5. Control Ports -- Companies must control USB ports to ensure that only authorized drives are used with corporate computers. However, the knee-jerk reactions of the past, such as gluing USB ports shut or otherwise disabling USB ports, can impact productivity significantly. This is also no longer viable because these ports are required for key peripheral devices including keyboards, mice and printers. Employees need access to these ports to do their jobs. IT professionals should employ a whitelist approach, allowing only authorized devices to connect.
6. Secure Remote Access -- Mobile security programs should include defined policies for remote access, including acceptable network connection methods and authentication policies. Who is allowed what type of access, and to what specific data? One way to extend secure authentication beyond passwords is to implement some form of two-factor authentication, and secure, one-time passwords such as SecurID tokens from RSA.