Reducing Risk and Increasing Flexibility for the Mobile Enterprise

How IT can achieve the best of both worlds

Mobile devices and BYOD have brought unprecedented agility to the enterprise, allowing users to access information and keep work moving from anywhere.

However, this increased mobile freedom and flexibility must be properly managed, monitored and secured by IT before confidential company or client data is compromised.

In a recent study, over 200 senior security executives were surveyed about top risks and trends in data-centric security. Nearly every survey participant agreed sensitive data loss is a top or significant concern, and many claimed it’s likely their business data had already been compromised in the last 12 months. With these figures in mind, it’s no surprise security is a hot button for IT and business leaders alike. The study also revealed key insights and findings included on the following pages.

Loss of sensitive information is a top concern and is assumed to be happening.

While 98 percent of respondents cited the loss of sensitive data as a top or significant concern, many believe it is very or somewhat likely that sensitive data had been lost or accessed inappropriately in the last 12 months.

Commonly stated reasons for data loss include:

Loss of information due to human error continues to be a concern, but IT must also work to prevent theft.

56% of respondents said it’s very or somewhat likely that files had been stolen by partners, contractors or customers.

58% said the same about files being stolen by employees.

60% of respondents said that files had been stolen by malicious software.

IT faces a new set of challenges and requirements when protecting sensitive data assets.

The need to collaborate with third parties makes file sharing a common occurrence, which can also pose as a security threat if information is accessed by an unauthorized party. In fact, 34 percent of respondents noted that 26 to 50 percent of their employees regularly share files with individuals external to their organizations.

Next steps

All things considered, today’s organizations must deliver secure mobility and virtualization of both apps and data to their employees. With the newfound freedom that mobility brings, organizations can’t forget to protect data and applications wherever and whenever access is requested, but they must also en-sure and maintain compliance. Therefore, IT must provide solutions that meet both sides of this challenge.

Fortunately, there are certain solutions designed to help organizations embrace user mobility requirements and empower employees to collaborate from anywhere, on any device, on any network and any cloud. This “best-of-both-worlds” approach gives users true enterprise-class data services across all mobile devices, while allowing the business to meet strict corporate security and compliance requirements.