Mobile devices have grown to become a popular means for accomplishing everyday tasks. Their importance can be better understood by their involvement in professional environments. Organizations have started to trust employees with mobile devices rather than allotting stationary workstations alone.

That being said, mobile devices do introduce several considerable threats that a company might not be willing to take on. Still, there are ways that these threats can be overcome, and we will help you understand how.

Discussed below, are some of the most effective strategies that you should adopt for successfully preventing any and all threats regarding mobile devices. But before we have a look at them, we need to understand why mobile devices are important in a work environment.

Why are Mobile Devices Important in a Work Environment?

In a conventional scenario, an employee is only productive if they are present near their workstation. No matter what task they need to accomplish, they would seek assistance from the hardware that is only accessible on their workstations.

On the other hand, mobile devices enable employees to perform their professional duties irrespective of their physical location. They can conveniently respond to emails, submit urgent reports, and much more with their laptops and smartphones.

Just consider the COVID-19 pandemic – while office premises were completely shut down, organizations continued to operate as their workforce carried on with their duties from home. Employees did not even need to be present near their official workstation at all times. They could simply take out their smartphones and carry on with their work. All they needed was to make sure that they were connected to a reliable internet service like Optimum Internet. With benefits such as excellent Optimum customer service, affordable rates, and much more, there wasn’t much choice other than to hop on to BuyTVInternetPhone and subscribe to an Optimum Internet plan.

Threats that You Should Be Concerned With

Now then, these are some of the major concerns that smart mobile devices bring along with them. As we discuss them in detail, let us also help you figure out how you can overcome them.

Oversight on User Behavior

If you have provided your employees with mobile devices, you have the added responsibility of overseeing their routine behaviors. Such devices need to be kept under lock and key at every moment when they are not in use. 

Even if a person is away from their station for a short period, they should be instructed to lock their devices with dedicated passwords. The shortest compromise on this responsibility can cause the organization to suffer serious damages like data theft, viruses, or information leakage.

Educate Your Users

Creating a secure digital environment is not a one-person job. It requires each and every individual in the organization to play their part in securing the office network from harm. All users must be educated and trained regarding security protocols and best practices from the day they become a part of the organization.

They should further be discouraged from connecting their own devices onto the office network. And even if the company does promote a BYOD (Bring your own device), special safeguards and protocols need to be put in place to avoid any possible threats.

Access Rights Must be Assessed Regularly

No employee stays at any organization for the rest of their life. A time will come when they will part ways with the organization. Such employees may have had certain access rights during their time at the organization. When their service period is over, it is the company’s primary duty to revoke those access rights at the earliest.

In the worst-case scenario, failure to revoke such rights may result in that access falling into the wrong hands which may further lead to compromise of confidential information or an introduction of malware onto the company’s network.

Deploy Strict Endpoint Firewalls

While you take every measure possible within the organization to promote a secure digital network, all of that will be for nothing if the first line of defense i.e. endpoint firewalls are not deployed.

Modern times have allowed hackers and cyber-criminals to update their tactics and they have moved on from old-school methods like email phishing, pretexting, and other similar tactics. An endpoint firewall will enable you to detect any and all complex threats that may be attempted against your organization.

There should be constant monitoring of said firewall, and relevant authorities could easily be alerted of a situation if a problem occurs.

Update Frequently

Just as technology is evolving, the level of threat is evolving at an equally faster pace. Thus, promoting a culture where all mobile devices are updated instantaneously would be the right course of action.

Software and hardware updates allow you to become better equipped against any possible new threats that might surface. No matter, how remote or minute a threat may seem, proper measures must always be taken right away.

All in All

Securing your office network is not an easy task, add mobile devices into the mix, and it gets a bit more complicated. Still, one cannot neglect the level of convenience and productivity that they have to offer. With the right set of tactics, these threats can be overcome completely.