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Mobile Security: Dealing w/ Always-On Personal Devices
Although the Endpoint Security section includes endpoint security controls for mobile devices like smartphones, laptops, and tablets, there are additional concerns that must be addressed with these highly mobile devices. Because the attractiveness to using these devices include: their portability for instant access to information from wherever at whatever time; their flexibility to perform a variety of different tasks (e.g., take photos, play music, make calls, perform office functions, etc.), and; their relatively inexpensive costs - they make for prime exploit platforms.
Devices
Mobile devices are, by intent, extremely portable making them highly susceptible to loss, theft, or damage. Because of this, it is important to ensure that security considerations and controls focused specifically on these types of devices are implemented to prevent unauthorized access to information. How can and why would you control core device capabilities and functions and/or prevent their use?
Apps
The plethora of apps for mobile devices in the Google Play™, Apple App Store™, and other online application stores allow devices to both maximize the intended use of the device and to expand the capabilities of the device beyond its intended use. What are some of the options available to control and segregate applications from business applications and data?
Wireless Communications
Wireless devices come with various types of communication capabilities including voice, cellular, bluetooth, near field communications (NFC), and other personal area network types. It is important to understand how they can be used and why they should potentially be controlled from a business perspective.
Service Providers
Sure, service providers play an important role in the delivery of communications, bandwidth capabilities, and cost; however, did you know that they also play a key role in the delivery of key updates to your devices?
Surveillance
With the wide variety of recording capabilities including GPS, voice, video, etc., there are a lot of benefits that can assist an individual in personal and business. However, those same capabilities can be used against an organization by insider threats or turned against an unwilling participant.