As a company looking to protect your mobile devices and network, you need to find the best practice and approaches that fit your network, budget, and business culture. We have some tips that will help you with that. 

1 - Have a plan 

It seems obvious, but the first thing to do is create a network security plan that considers all the different locations, devices, and uses your employees’ demand from your network. You also need to keep in mind that your employee can lose their mobiles, or it can be stolen.

Your plan should also include software regulations and training for your employees. As devices are user friendly, not everyone in your company may know how to safely interact with applications.

By having a cybersecurity plan, your IT team can remotely manage users and devices, disable unauthorized users and applications, control device updates, and remotely wipe data from lost or stolen devices.  

2 - Make sure your security plan is clear to your employees  

Having cybersecurity policies and processes is the first step, but it won’t work if it only stays on the paper (or file). It is critical to inform your employees and make sure that they understand it, and it is necessary to enforce your plan. 

Your employees need to know what devices they can use, what they can access from those devices, password requirements, and how often it needs to be changed. It is also essential to inform your employees what OS versions are allowed, what the company can and can’t access on personal devices, and if IT can remotely wipe a device.  

Sometimes wiping devices is a sensitive theme; for that, you could provide different environments in a single mobile device to your employees, one for personal and the other for work-related usage. Therefore, your IT team can wipe the company’s data and keep personal information. 

3 - Have a Mobile Enterprise Management 

With a security plan, you should have a platform that allows your IT team to gather real-time data to act on potential threats and make sure only your employees can access their devices. Policies won’t work if you don’t have technical means to ensure them.  

4 - Mobile Security Apps

These apps search for suspicious files and data transmissions. They generally run in the background when the device is online. Ensure that your employees kept it installed on their devices. You also should review those apps every year and see if it meets your needs. 

5 - Endpoint security  

It is necessary to provide remote access to the network to embrace device mobility. Endpoint security solutions monitor files, processes, operation functions, and backup strategies on mobile devices that access your network. It also scans for malicious behavior, identifying threats early on. This enables your security team to neutralize the threat before it does significant damage, and it ensures that all the devices follow security standards.  

6 - Secure Web-Gateway and Cloud Access Security Broker  

Your company probably uses a cloud service provider where your employees have access. A cloud access security broker (CASB) acts as a gateway between your devices and cloud applications. It identifies malicious cloud applications and protects against data loss and breaches.  

Secure web-gateway provides cloud security by identifying attacks before they are launched. Therefore, you can stop an attack happening in one location from reaching other branches. It can also defend your network against phishing, ransomware, and other types of attacks.  

7 - E-mail Security 

E-mail is the most common tool for an attacker to spread malware. Your cybersecurity measures need to prevent data loss, detect, block, and mitigate a threat. It also should transmit data with end-to-end encryption. 

8 - Securely dispose of your device 

It does not matter why you no longer need a device, before getting rid of it, wipe it clean, and perform a full factory reset.

 9 - IoT also should be part of your plan  

IoT devices are also connected to your network and vulnerable to a cyberattack. All the endpoints should be considered when taking care of your safety.  

You can remove them from your main network and place them on an isolated one, such as a virtual LAN. These will put them in a different firewalled network, avoiding compromising your main one if those devices are hacked. You should also disable functions you don’t use, turn off appliances, and Bluetooth when they aren’t in use.  

10 - Use a Cybersecurity Liability Insurance  

Make sure the cyber insurance liability covers mobile devices. According to GDPR, when a data breach happens, all the customers who had their data leaked must be individually notified. Your insurance should cover those communication costs and all the potential financial losses resulting from a data breach.  

11 - Educate your Employees 

One fundamental tip. Cybercriminals rely on human error, and if your team doesn’t understand the importance of following the security plan, your network is still vulnerable. Your employee should understand the risks of cyber and physical attacks and be educated in protecting companies’ devices and data.

To secure your network and data, you also need to ensure your devices are secured. However, with mobiles, you also need to make sure the networks they access are safe, and for that, you will need to rely on your employees. Those tips will help you and your team to start and comply with your mobile cybersecurity plan. Our next post in cybersecurity will list some attacks mobile devices are vulnerable to and help you identify mobile threats.

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This article was written by Juliane Verissímo - Marketing Department of VisionSpace