Smartphones – Smart Security

George Ulbrich, Manager of Information Technology   email
August 2010

Smartphones have quickly gained popularity and, in fact, are quickly becoming a standard technology used by just about everyone.  The ability for employees to email, check calendars and look at sales figures on handheld devices that have several gigs of storage is an advantage most employers could benefit from.  As businesses strive to make the most of time and resources, the ability to access information while out of the office becomes a very compelling reason to use Smartphones.

While Smartphones provide efficiencies within a business, it is also important to consider how much of your business information is walking out the door every day.  Similar to laptops, it is critical to consider the amount of risk accompanied by the use of a Smartphone.

To protect the vital information within a business, it is important to have someone manage all of the devices used and review the security and risk that these devices are creating within your business.   

A few strategies to implement with little to no cost are as follows:

• Create a usage policy for each device;
• Encrypt any data being passed to and from each device;
• Set a time-out password for each device;
• Ensure that if a device is lost or stolen, it's possible to delete data from the device remotely; and
• Support only one or two types of Smartphones - assess each one's capabilities and choose the device that will do the best job overall for your business needs.

These basic strategies will help to keep your devices more secure, but Smartphone viruses and malware are on the rise.  Therefore, it is best to have a software package installed to control and secure these devices in addition to deploying the above practices.

Smartphones are great tools to keep connected and enhance productivity; just take the time to ensure all of your business information is secure.  If you have any questions, please contact George Ulbrich.