Securing computers in a company network should definitely be a priority for businesses of all types and sizes. But there’s another element of the enterprise network that can’t be overlooked: mobile devices.
As companies make strides toward greater mobility — with employees increasingly logging in remotely and completing a mounting number of work-related tasks on mobile devices — the need to protect these mobile mechanisms becomes particularly acute.
Expect More Mobile Attacks On Businesses
Mobile malware shot up by 75 percent between 2013 and 2014, as AndroidGuys pointed out. And that incline doesn’t appear set to level out. Instead, all signs point to 2015 being another damaging year in terms of mobile threats. Here are some of the risks that businesses and individuals face in terms of mobile mechanisms:
- Growth of malvertising: As a McAfee 2015 threat projection report stated, “malvertising” — wherein malicious material is spread via advertising — will be a key cause of mobile device infections this year. This prospect poses a particular problem for businesses, since again, often all it takes is a single worker falling prey to a malvertising campaign to put the whole enterprise at risk.
- Increase in ransomware attacks: The McAfee report also suggested that ransomware attacks — in which a device is commandeered by hackers until a fee is paid — will increasingly target mobile devices. This kind of attack can easily derail an entire corporate network, as witnessed in the Sony debacle. For small organizations with a limited IT presence, something like a mobile ransomware attack could threaten the stability of the entire business.
Take Steps To Prevent A Mobile Attack
As a business, it’s up to you to guard mobile devices in your network as closely as you do computers. If your organization is mobilized without mobile security, then you’re basically just sitting around waiting to be attacked.
That’s why it’s imperative to pursue the kind of mobile security that will keep your business’ entire mobile network protected. A strong mobile security offering will change mobile devices from potential vulnerable spots to resources that can be leveraged to actually bolster business security. In order for that to happen, the mobile devices themselves have to be secured, which means implementing a solution that provides device certificates, individual application protection and timely analytics on potential threats.
Once these things are in place, a mobile device can become a means of securing the entire business. For example, a well-protected smartphone in a corporate network can easily turn into a tool that serves as the second authentication step in a two-factor authentication solution. In this way, mobile devices can work along with the rest of a business’ security policy to keep an organization threat-free. Thus, a mobile future can be a safer one too.
