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5. Facilitate the establishment of a secure home office

Providing a secure Wi-Fi gateway for every employee is likely cost prohibitive, but there are
ways to make home networks (and therefore home offices) more secure. In particular,
organizations should provide training or instruction on securing and encrypting their home
routers. Where possible, they should offer discounts on 4G hotspots that use encryption by
default and that end users’ reliance on public Wi-Fi hotspots.

6. Navigate BYOD with strong policy and guidelines

A Gartner survey recently found that 40 percent of U.S. employees of large enterprises are
using their personal devices, including smartphones, laptops, desktops and tablets, for work.
Nearly half those workers (45 percent) said their employer was unaware they were using a
personal device for job-related functions. This data only heightens the need for enterprises to
recognize and embrace BYOD practices.

There are many mobile device management vendors out there to help IT departments manage
the technical aspects of mobility. There are also integrated and standalone options for
managing sandboxed enterprise applications, corporate data containers and secure web
browser environments. Businesses need to figure out the best way to implement BYOD based
on corporate culture, the mix of devices, and employee needs. A thorough policy that
acknowledges rights to privacy on a personal device, while allowing for secure interactions with
company information and applications is necessary.

Final thoughts

Technology has enabled work environments to evolve to the point where many job functions
can be done anywhere. Yet businesses have to be sure technology is not only allowing
employees to be more productive, but also to work securely.

Network administrators, IT staff, executives and employees need to work together to ensure
security best practices are used both in the office and outside of it.

About The Author

Aamir Lakhani is a senior security strategist at Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs.
He is responsible to provide IT security solutions to major commercial and
federal enterprise organizations. Lakhani has designed cyber solutions for
defense and intelligence agencies, and has assisted organizations in
defending themselves from active strike back attacks perpetrated by
underground cyber groups. Lakhani is considered an industry leader in
support of detailed architectural engagements and projects on topics
related to cyber defense, mobile application threats, malware and
advanced persistent threat (APT) research.

Aamir can be reached online at [email protected] or Twitter: @aamirlakhani, and at our
company website www.fortinet.com
16 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – August 2015 Edition
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