How secure is your data — really?

February 10, 2015
By Moka5

Business technology, we all know, evolves quickly. But is the pace of change in IT too fast? In some cases, the answer to that question seems to be yes.

For instance, look at how much more complicated data and service security has gotten in just the last half dozen years. With the rise of smart mobile platforms, we have more than doubled the number of applications and operating systems commonly used to reach business data. And with the rise of cloud computing, the host environment for services can no longer confidently be assumed as either inherently secure or directly under company control.

This means that at both ends of the network — where services live, and where they’re accessed by business professionals — locking down data is a lot harder than it used to be. This problem applies not only in different ways to different team members, but quite often, to a single team member at different points in the day.

Here are just a handful of everyday, real-world situations to consider. See if they seem familiar:

  • You wake up and want to check something at work. A handy smartphone or tablet is the simplest path to take. Perhaps IT has secured it enough to satisfy company standards, perhaps not. If it’s a new phone or tablet that you just bought, almost certainly not.
  • On a family holiday, you find, via your smartphone, that something needs extended work from you — say, an important spreadsheet needs some tweaking. Your smartphone isn’t going to get it done. You don’t have your own, company-supplied desktop PC or laptop at this location. So, you just use a family member’s laptop to get the spreadsheet, revise it, and upload it. Is this laptop secure enough for this job? Almost certainly not.
  • Your phone’s battery dies or you can’t get service. Your spouse’s phone still works. You use it to check your e-mail. Is it secure enough for this job? Almost certainly not.

Perfectly common scenarios like these that have companies scrambling to respond and IT managers pulling out their hair. Going forward, we can’t realistically expect things to improve on their own. Business team members are not suddenly going to start limiting themselves to IT-approved devices for business purposes. Instead, they’re going to continue using devices that IT never bought, never secured, and in fact, never even touched.

Read more about these real world security issues and how Moka5 can help you deal with them in the most expedient, cost –effective, and secure fashion in our latest whitepaper, Solving Real-world Data Security Problems, by completing the form below:

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