In today's digital landscape, remote work has increasingly become the norm for businesses in every industry. As more employees work from home, the security of their mobile devices, particularly phones, has become a critical concern for cybersecurity-conscious organizations.
Protecting data on personal phones is crucial — not only for the employees' privacy but also for safeguarding the company's sensitive information. So, what are essential security steps employers and employees should take to protect their mobile devices?
In this blog post we’ll explore nine best practices that businesses can implement across their organizations and teach their employees to enhance mobile phone security while working remotely, with a specific focus on the cybersecurity IT integrated solutions provided by Derive Technologies.
One of the biggest and easiest baseline practices is encouraging employees to use strong, unique passwords for their mobile devices. A strong password should include upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Also, having a password with 14 to 16 characters makes it more secure.
Experts agree that length is a critical element of password strength. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) states that enabling biometric authentication, such as fingerprint or facial recognition, adds a useful extra layer of security. Password managers also can go a long way in helping both businesses and individuals manage more complex–and secure–passwords.
How can I secure my mobile device for work? Regularly updating mobile devices with the latest operating system and security patches is essential to reduce vulnerabilities. These patches almost always include up-to-date security fixes that keep your devices, as well as their data, better protected. Reminding employees to enable automatic updates, or prompt them to install updates once released, helps mitigate the risks associated with cyber threats while promoting the security of business data.
It’s a good idea to advise employees to connect only to secure Wi-Fi networks and avoid using public or unsecured networks when accessing company data. Airports, coffee shops, and other unsecured public-access WiFi zones are among the most vulnerable and easily exploited networks.
When using any work device or accessing work data, make sure your employees are only using secure, private networks in their home or home offices. In the case where an employee must use a public WiFi (perhaps while traveling or working remotely outside of their home), utilizing a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is strongly recommended to encrypt internet traffic and ensure data confidentiality.
Encourage employees to enable encryption on their mobile devices to protect the stored data. Encryption ensures that even if a device is lost or stolen, the stored data remains secure and inaccessible to unauthorized individuals. Most devices make encryption easy and accessible within their hardware settings, making this a worthwhile security precaution.
How do you protect your privacy when using your smartphone or other electronic devices? Using reputable mobile security software is a crucial baseline effort to dramatically level-up device security. By installing and regularly updating reliable security solutions, employees can effectively detect and protect against malware, phishing attempts, and other security threats.
Encourage employees to read app reviews, check permissions, and research the developer before installing any app on their mobile device, whether it be for work or personal use. Malicious apps can compromise data and invade privacy while messing with the mobile operating system software, potentially exploiting all of its data. Educating employees about the importance of downloading apps only from trusted sources — such as official app stores — is essential to avoid cybersecurity threats.
Derive Technologies encourages businesses to create clear and comprehensive mobile phone usage policies that outline security guidelines, acceptable use, data handling, and the reporting of security incidents. Regularly communicating and reinforcing these policies with employees is essential to maintain data safety and encourage strong cyber hygiene practices that they can take outside of work.
What is a useful security tool for a mobile device? Implementing a mobile device management (MDM) solution that allows remote management of employees' mobile devices — or any other device connected to an organization's network — empowers organizations to enforce security policies, remotely wipe data in case of loss or theft, and track devices for better visibility and control. This may not be the most appropriate solution for every business depending on their industry or data sensitivity, but it’s certainly a powerful means of maximizing mobile security.
Derive Technologies recommends implementing two-factor authentication (2FA) for accessing all corporate accounts and applications. 2FA adds an extra layer of verification, reducing the risk of unauthorized access even if a password is compromised. This is a practice that offers dramatic impact for minimal effort. Simply adding another authentication layer can deter a vast majority of low-level, or “spray and pray,” phishing attacks.
Social engineering attacks, such as phishing (email) and vishing (voice and text), are effective attack vectors for cybercriminals. Through comprehensive training, employees can learn how to identify and report phishing, vishing, and other social engineering exploit attempts. Scrutinizing emails, messages, and phone calls that request sensitive information or appear suspicious can help employees stay sharp and defensive. For example, closely examine email address strings that, on first glance, look legitimate but upon closer scrutiny reveal odd domain names or extensions.
By implementing most or all of the best practices mentioned above, organizations can empower employees to safeguard their mobile phones, thereby fortifying the security of company data.
Remember, cybersecurity is a shared responsibility, and continuous education and awareness are vital to maintaining a secure remote work environment.
With a deep understanding of the challenges faced by organizations in safeguarding their data, Derive Technologies offers comprehensive cybersecurity frameworks, critical enterprise managed security services, and expert guidance to healthcare organizations and other enterprise businesses
To learn how Derive Technologies can apply cutting-edge security solutions to prevent network intrusions, data breaches and–perhaps most important, rapid recovery after a cyberattack BOOK A FREE CONSULTATION TODAY!
