November 20, 2016
BYOD is quickly picking up steam, with a Tech Pro Research survey revealing that 74% of businesses are planning to allow or have already allowed employees to use personal devices at work. This strong trend comes with a serious threat to the security of corporate data shared with and stored on employees’ personal devices. Since, employees might not have activated all the security features available in devices today, employers can prevent any misuse of sensitive data with Cloud based MDM solution or Manage android devices solution..
Though the increased use of mobile devices at the workplace also adds to the security risks, you can prevent your corporate data from being compromised with some simple steps. As per Gartner, personal smart devices will be used by 70% of professionals by 2018.
Remotely manage what apps users access on device
Additionally, you can also manage the Mobile data management & apps that user installs and accesses on his device. Access to apps from third party resources is not recommended for every smartphone user, and restricting your employees from using such apps can help prevent any attempt of security breach. This is essential and useful as apps from third party sources are considered to be a major source of malicious tools, and can be easily achieved with MDM EMM Solutions.
Enable remote wipe for corporate data
For BYOD devices, data security is a major concern and various mobile device management solutions are available to address this challenge. With containerization feature of this tool, you can store your corporate data in a separate folder on the user device. This allows you to easily wipe off all the sensitive data on the device, in case any risk of device theft or loss is anticipated or if any such incident happens.
Enable additional authentication & security measures
Remote data wipe feature prevents data from unauthorized access, in case a device is lost or stolen. This can lead to loss of data in case a theft is anticipated, but the device is not actually lost. However, enabling additional authentication for access to corporate access and data on device helps prevent unauthorized access.
Remote device tracking
In any case of device loss or theft, a cloud based Mobile Device Management Android solution can help track the device location, preventing anyone from unnecessarily using the device. This feature can also be used to track a user’s location during work hours and assign any task accordingly.
Thus, Cloud Based MDM solutions help streamline business operations along with the security of corporate data on user devices.
Encrypt the data shared across enterprise network
Secure all the data passing from the corporate server to employee device and back with network encryption, preventing any unauthorized access. In addition to this, the data can also be encrypted on the user device, making it useless for anyone not authorized to use the device.
Various device manufacturers and operating systems provide inbuilt encryption options, which help secure all the data stored within.
Limit access to safe resources only
While employees are using their personal devices at work, you can limit the type and amount of data that they can access. Allow only documents and files that employees need access to, while on the move. Though you can’t stop them from accessing their personal data, but limiting access to corporate data can help minimize the risk factor.
Distribute apps via enterprise app store only
The enterprise app store is a great feature of enterprise device management solutions, which is used to host and distribute apps of official use to on-field employees. This brings 2 benefits to business owners, in terms of data security. First, only employees with access to those apps can download and use those apps and are prevented from using any 3rd party malicious tools to access corporate data.
Second, by restricting access to internal employees only, your apps are prevented from hackers and attackers who are constantly looking to exploit corporate apps for unauthorized access to data.
In a BYOD policy, the cases of device loss or theft and any employee leaving the organization pose serious threats to corporate data security. In such cases, it becomes the responsibility of employers to secure sensitive data, for which Cloud based mobile device management solutions are a great solution. However, you should find a professional and reliable device management solution for easy and efficient management of employees’ personal mobile devices used at work.