Internet Security Learning Center

Companies Should Secure Mobile Workforce, Analysts Say

At the RSA Conference this week, industry insiders said companies need to ensure that network access and mobile devices are secure. Businesses need to develop policies determining what kinds of data should be kept on mobile devices and incorporate security measures, such as the ability to remotely erase data on mobile devices in case smart phones or PDAs with sensitive information are lost or stolen. Structured authentication procedures are also important to control what computers connected to the network can download, be it blocking all downloads completely or limiting downloads to trustworthy applications. It is also important to teach employees to understand the importance of knowing what is on a mobile device before plugging it into the network, and computers should not be configured to automatically install removable hardware. Threats to networks are more subtle and embedded, and companies need to be able to detect threats at the application level without disrupting network functionality.

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