SOPHOS 7 DEADLY IT SINS: NO.1 – MOBILE NEGLIGENCE

Written by Jared Quan | Apr 9, 2015 8:00:00 PM

Over the course of the next seven weeks we will be reviewing the Sophos 7 Deadly IT Sins. It is apparent that as technology continues to advance and our reliance of technology increases, IT professionals are being forced into a juggling act. One of the heaviest and most critical things companies have to deal with is security. Sophos has a practical saying they like to use ‘the solution to complexity is not more complexity.’ They have set out to tackle security challenges with clarity and confidence.

The first deadly IT sin according to Sophos is Mobile Negligence. Some companies believe they have a good handle on it, and others have accepted that the problem exists but aren’t sure on how to handle it. The statistics are staggering on the depth of the problem, 64% of users don’t lock their phones, added on top of Malware growth on Android devices increasing 1800% over the last twelve months. Imagine the damage with the loss of a single phone when you add up the penalties, data theft, financial consequences, and loss of productivity.

Ari Buchler, senior vice president, corporate development at Sophos put it well when he said in an interview last year on mobile security, "The rapid growth of mobile devices in the workplace combined with today's range of threats means that mobile security is an increasing priority for many organizations."

Hackers are becoming increasingly more sophisticated in their attacks using mobile devices against companies. For instance Android Malware can relay to C&C servers, the identity of the organization, or more impressively they can use the phone as a proxy to other systems on the network.

The solution to deal with this rampant problem is to make sure you can manage and secure your mobile devices and your corporate network. When it comes down to mobile device management you have to:

Enforce strong passwords
Control unwanted/unknown apps
Block Android malware

When it comes down to the mobile network protection the following pieces need to be in place:

Next-generation Firewall
Mobile Network Access Control
Advanced Threat Protection

Sophos Enterprise Mobility Management helps mitigate the risk by giving IT professionals the tools needed to apply both sets of requirements to secure the mobility used in their environments every day. For example the solution would allow the IT department to inform uses about passwords, block non-compliant devices, or remote wipe a device of all company data. The Sophos solution also gives IT departments the flexibility to work on premise, in the cloud, or both. This gives IT professionals the ability to manage mobile devices, anywhere, anytime. Click here to find out more about how VLCM and Sophos can help you overcome the first deadly IT sin and stay tuned as we cover the remaining 6 Deadly IT Sins.

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