The proliferation of mobile devices and employees’ desire to use them to access, share and collaborate on enterprise files creates a daunting information security challenge.
IT departments must be vigilant in protecting their enterprise files amid the growth of mobile device use in the workplace.
Enterprise mobility isn’t a question of if, but a matter of how soon and to what extent. As the modern workforce becomes more global and the implementation of flexible office hours and work-from-home options increase, business executives and IT chiefs alike must determine how to ensure productivity outside the walls of the traditional office.
Mobile devices are largely the answer to this productivity dilemma. Providing the ability to access enterprise files from anywhere — home, a hotel room, the coffee shop, a taxicab, etc. — means work need not be confined within an office Monday to Friday from 9 to 5.
But with all this data being taken outside of the office network and shared and stored across multiple devices by numerous users, what’s the best way to keep it safe from loss, theft or corruption?
Consider these commonly used channels to access enterprise files via mobile devices:
- Public Wi-Fi
- Open data networks
- Bluetooth
- AirDrop
- AirPlay
- Cellular Networks
- Private data networks
Developing Secure Access Controls
Mobile devices are made for consumption, not production. That’s why enterprise file security should start at the source: the servers, desktops, laptops and terminals where files are created.
When this data moves from the source to other destinations — such as smartphones, tablets or other computers — you need to ensure that the channels the data flow through are encrypted and secure. Apply multidimensional access rights policies to your files at the source that follow data as it moves, ensuring secure access anywhere the files go.
Robust mobile content management policies help you control what happens to data as it’s shared. A sophisticated enterprise file sync & share (EFSS) platform should allow you to control whether a file may be shared across a Bluetooth network and if it can be printed, emailed, copied or pasted into another window.
When enterprise data is stored on a mobile device — especially an end user’s personal device — it should be stored in an encrypted container. Containerization keeps enterprise data separate from other data on the device, making it easy for you to manipulate the container without touching any personal data.
Securing files through containerization means that if access to data is initiated from outside the container, it will fail because the data is encrypted from inside the container itself.
