As businesses around the world modernize their mobile infrastructure and adopt new ways to empower their employees to do business on the go, they must protect their data with powerful security and governance tools. Businesses must take important steps to implement the necessary security policies and governance protocols to ensure all employees are complying with the company BYOD policies. Enterprise data security is critical in today’s globalized digital era. Solutions like enterprise file sync and share can help alleviate the BYOD challenges and serve data security needs.
Businesses should take the following steps in order to ensure security in the mobile era.
Step 1: Create a comprehensive guideline for determining the appropriate BYOD solutions
This should outline the regulatory compliance and security requirements that must be met in the software or application to be adopted by the company. Multinational enterprises must be cognizant of the different compliance requirements that apply in certain countries to both public and private entities. They must also make sure the necessary governance policies can be exercised by IT administration for security purposes.
Step 2: Implement powerful security policies
Adequate security policies and settings are critical for controlling the content available to the mobile workforce.
Device access controls allow administrators to allow or disallow access to Thru Mobile Apps and can also control which devices a user may log into based on MAC address. This allows devices to be blocked temporarily or indefinitely if a user’s device is lost or stolen.
Applications should have the capability to implement role-based access settings. This feature is particularly useful for large-scale enterprises so they can securely on-board temporary users and govern their actions. IT administrators should also be able to set file permissions including Read, Create, Modify, Download, Send and Manage.
Password protection is obligatory when accessing files outside of the organization firewall. Secure sign-on and two-factor authentication should be implemented as built-in security features. When sending data outside to external entities, the data should be sent in an encrypted message with a password requirement for recipients.
Step 3: Ensure data governance
Data centers where the company’s information is stored, must have the appropriate level of security as well. Certifications include SSAE 16 and ISAE 3402, ISO 27001 and Microsoft Gold Certified.
The transmission of data must be secure; therefore, companies should ensure all files being sent with mobile applications are transferred with powerful encryption. Data should have AES 256-bit SSL/TLS encryption and stored with AES 256 FIPS-compliant encryption. All files and data in the system should be scanned using antivirus/quarantine software protection.
Step 4: Train employees on secure BYOD usage and policies
After all protocols and security measures have been put in place, IT administrators and senior-level management should educate employees on best practices for secure BYOD usage. In a recent study conducted by Forrester on behalf of Thru, it was revealed that more than half (53%) of technology and electronics companies use two file sharing or collaboration tools. Forty-nine percent reported using consumer (free) editions of cloud-based file sharing tools. There is a high risk of losing sensitive company data when administrators lose control of the data and employees use unsanctioned tools for sending and sharing valuable information.
These steps are vital to implement secure BYOD in today’s era of digital vulnerability. Thru’s comprehensive enterprise file exchange and collaboration platform helps enterprises send and share files securely across devices, anywhere, at any time.
