4 Essentials of a Secure Wireless Workforce
The rising incidences of corporate hacking worldwide have led to a growing realization among business leaders of how vulnerable their digital infrastructure is. Cyber threats can originate from a variety of sources, including lone wolf hackers and foreign government-sponsored groups. Protecting corporate secrets and intellectual property requires a robust security system, which includes not only sophisticated technology but also a sophisticated workforce.
Modern workforce makes use of a variety of devices – desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets – to access the corporate network. Securing these endpoints is critical. However, end-point security can be extremely challenging. Here are 4 ways to address this.
1. Build a Risk – Aware Culture
No matter how sophisticated and thorough your IT team is, it is impossible to secure all points of vulnerability without severely limiting the utilization of the digital infrastructure. That would defeat the very purpose of employing those digital technologies. On the other hand, creating a culture of risk-awareness makes the end user part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. They will be able to take proactive steps and change their behavior to improve the security of their devices as well as the corporate network. Even simple actions like using highly secure passwords, using VPNs for remote access to corporate network or cloud services, and so on can go a long way in improving corporate network security.
2. Encrypt All Devices
Whether your organization is following a BYOD, CYOD, or COPE enterprise mobility strategy, enable corporate network access to only authorized devices. Also, make sure that all these authorized devices are encrypted and secured with advanced security protocols. Modern smartphones make use of fingerprints and facial scan authentications. Even older devices come with decent security features like pattern locks. They all offer superior security than an unencrypted and unlocked device.
3. Segregate the Traffic
Exercise granular level control over the traffic originating from external sources. Create separate firewalls and security protocols that allow mobile users to access limited information from the corporate network or cloud. Don’t just limit this to the workforce. Extend these capabilities to third-parties like contractors, suppliers, vendors, and clients that access your network. These are all points of vulnerabilities. Wherever possible, ensure that corporate data accessed by such devices and such networks is not stored locally on the devices and is purged when the session ends.
4. State-of-the-Art Threat Management
All devices that have access to a company’s network or cloud services must have advanced anti-virus and other threat management solutions installed on them. Once a year, hire a reputable third-party service to perform penetration testing on the devices used by your employees. A white hat hacker can help you discover security vulnerabilities that you’ll never come across on your own. They think like the bad guys and will attack your workforce’s devices with the same cyber threats that professional black hat hackers use. With their help, you can protect your organization’s data and security from most threats out there.