Why Is Data Encryption on Employees' Mobile Devices So Important?

Employees' Mobile Devices Encryption

Setting up an office for an IT company the old-fashioned way requires more steps than you might think. First, every single employee must have a workstation set up and ready to go. Every computer needs a licensed operating system, complete with all the security patches as well as robust anti-malware and firewall solutions. A good sysadmin will make sure that all the tools employees might need are accessible and will also think about a good backup policy.

Meetings and PowerPoint presentations will decide what portion of the company's IT infrastructure is to be kept on-premises, and what needs to be sent to the cloud, and the whole debacle will be finished off with a training course for employees which may or may not take too long.

The world is changing

Things tend to be different nowadays. In a modern office, employees come in, take out their laptops and smartphones, and just get on with it. All the admin needs to do is make sure the Wi-Fi is on.

Okay, that might be stretching it a bit, but the fact of the matter is, Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD as it's commonly known, is a thing nowadays. More and more companies allow their employees to work on their own computers and phones which, it must be said, is made possible because of the fact that nowadays, virtually everything is done on the Internet.

BYOD is not the brainchild of a lazy sysadmin. It brings real benefits. Research shows, for example, that companies save quite a bit of cash on buying computers for all employees, but perhaps the biggest advantage is that people seem to be more productive when they're working on their own devices. Apparently, the difference with which things get done is so huge that employees could save up to 81 minutes per week, and researchers from Cisco reckon that a more carefully thought out BYOD policy could result in even greater gains.

Where's the problem, then?

It should be pretty obvious. The biggest issue with portable devices is the fact that they're, well, portable. They can easily fall into the wrong hands, and if they're used for work purposes, they could expose important company information. That's why if employees are going to use their own devices, they'll need to know what to do to ensure that should the worst happens, sensitive data won't be leaked. Here are a couple of things they can start with:

  • Passwords and biometrics are there for a purpose.
    In the beginning, face recognition and fingerprint readers were available only on flagship devices, but it seems that nowadays, biometric authentication is everywhere. And with good reason. Compared to having to type a long, complex password, touching a reader or simply staring at a camera is a much easier way of logging in. Employees should understand that an unprotected device is a threat not only to the company data, but to their own privacy. If they are aware of this, they are much more likely to turn biometric authentication on and/or set a strong password.
  • Encryption is the best kind of protection we have to date.
    The problem with locking a device and requiring authentication is that it can't always protect the data. Hackers might not be able to access an employee's files if the laptop or phone is locked, but in most cases, they can do it after they connect the device to their computer via a humble USB cable. The thing is, there's a difference between accessing and reading information, and in this particular case, it's crucial. If the data saved on an employee's laptop or smartphone is encrypted, crooks might be able to access it, but they won't be able to read it.In the past, encryption used to be a rather complex procedure that was only ever carried out by people with extensive technical knowledge. Nowadays, there are easy to use tools that can scramble the data for you, and some of them are even a part of the operating system.

Of course, if you're going to let your employees use their devices, you'll need a much more extensive BYOD policy, and you'll need to make sure that people are sticking to it. The two points we outlined above are just the start.

July 10, 2018
Loading...

Cyclonis Backup Details & Terms

The Free Basic Cyclonis Backup plan gives you 2 GB of cloud storage space with full functionality! No credit card required. Need more storage space? Purchase a larger Cyclonis Backup plan today! To learn more about our policies and pricing, see Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Discount Terms and Purchase Page. If you wish to uninstall the app, please visit the Uninstallation Instructions page.

Cyclonis Password Manager Details & Terms

FREE Trial: 30-Day One-Time Offer! No credit card required for Free Trial. Full functionality for the length of the Free Trial. (Full functionality after Free Trial requires subscription purchase.) To learn more about our policies and pricing, see EULA, Privacy Policy, Discount Terms and Purchase Page. If you wish to uninstall the app, please visit the Uninstallation Instructions page.