Our Phones are Goldmines
If you think about it, our phones are goldmines of private information, from all the financial details, personal messages, banking apps, photos, contacts, etc. that live behind that little glass screen! And if your company or team uses phones for work, they’ll often have access straight into company systems: email, contact lists, network access, file systems. And if they’re not kept as secure as any other device in your workplace, they can become a gaping hole in your cybersecurity.
Criminals Know This!
Of course, cybercriminals know this, which is why they target us through our phones just as much as they do through our networks and servers. And it only takes one device to gain access to your company’s network. In fact, on average, mobile users spend about 80% of their time outside of the protected company network, as they access the internet from locations other than the office or company locations.
But That’s Not All!
As big as it is, cybercrime, however, isn’t the only threat to cybersecurity on phones: losing your phone or having it physically stolen can put your data at a huge risk. In fact, 70 million smartphones are lost each year, with only 7% being recovered. The vast majority of Americans (85%) own a smartphone, which means that nearly 30% of smartphones are lost each year in the U.S. That could result in huge losses for your company!
Simple Solutions
So, what can you do with such odds potentially stacked against you and your organization? Implement these simple cybersecurity steps to protect your data and avoid disaster:
- Login: make sure that your employees set up a PIN and/or a biometric (i.e., fingerprint or face scan) login to open the device. That way even if it gets lost or stolen, accessing it will be a challenge, if not impossible.
- Trustworthy Sources: only install apps from trusted sources (like the Apple App Store or Google Play Store) to make sure you’re using genuine software, as cybercriminals can create apps that appear legitimate or like others but are really just ways to infect your device.
- MFA: make sure to enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on all apps, even ones that store only a small amount of sensitive data. This will improve the prevention of accessing the apps and the data therein illicitly.
- VPN: if possible, never use Public Wi-Fi; instead, use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to enhance security on your device, as anyone can monitor the traffic on a public network as well as infiltrate your system through that same public network.
- Up-to-Date: always make sure your phone is running the latest version of its operating system and keep all apps up-to-date, as an outdated system or application can result in ruptures in not only service but also security.
We get IT
Smartphones have definitely changed the way we live and work–and it’s easy to take them for granted, not realizing that they can be chinks in the armor of cybersecurity for our networks.
If you need help securing your company and its devices, contact us today!