How To Maintain Physical Control of Your Devices

March 4, 2016 – In our previous blog post we discussed the importance of containing your data in your company. In this article we are extending the concept of securing your business to the importance of maintaining physical control of your devices.

Why is this important? With the rise of data breaches and the use of BYOD at work, you need to be able to control, monitor, and secure how your employees use corporate and personal devices to share confidential information.

What if you could lock certain functionality by location, which are standard on most mobile devices (cameras, unapproved Wi-Fi hotspots), or even erase all corporate related data when an employee leaves the company? Maintaining physical control of your corporate and BYOD devices is possible through Mobile Device Management (MDM), which monitor, deploy, and secure your corporate environment.

Here is a list on how MDM allows you to maintain control of your employees’ devices at work:

1. Make changes when you want. With MDM you have the ability to turn off certain features on any devices used for work (e.g. even those personal devices). You might not want employees to use their camera during a quality control service at your company’s manufacturing facility. Also, many companies block employees from accessing networks that are not considered secured (e.g. coffee shops). You control what features are accessible to your employees at any given time to reduce the risk of penetration.
2. No access granted. With MDM you can limit the functionality of a device based on location and time. If you don’t want files to be shared after working hours you will be able to set that functionality on all mobiles or a select group. Just be aware that your CEO might always be working!
3. I never got my laptop back. Many companies let employees leave their jobs keeping corporate laptops. This means that they have access to confidential data as former employees. With MDM you can erase the data from any mobile devices at any given time, without it being in your physical possession. So, as soon as that employee resigns, you can wipe out all corporate data and applications.
4. BYOD. Once a user enrolls into a Mobile Device Management program, the IT staff has the ability to configure different corporate services (e.g. secure e-mail) that employees can use. This means that your staff can continue to use their personal devices both for pleasure and work-related tasks. Only the corporate services (e.g. e-mail, file-sharing) are controlled by your IT team. This is important as you have full control of the corporate data stored and shared via BYOD, but leaves your employees happy that they still control their personal information.

Having control of mobile devices at work is more important than you think. If you don’t have MDM in place your data is vulnerable to attacks, thus putting you and your business at risk. Being able to monitor, deploy certain features, manage specific applications (e.g. access to Wi-Fi, password request), and erase company data is essential to securing your company.

At Coretek we look at how your employees are using mobile devices at work and define what needs to be done to secure your company. We help you design and implement a strategy that meets your needs. At the end of our involvement with you, your IT staff will be prepared to maintain physical control of all devices, while protecting your business.