Page 23 - Cyber Warnings

Key security considerations for BYOD
People talk about BYOD or 'choose-your-own-device' - but it could really end up being BYOD
'bring-your-own-disaster' if you haven't thought about the fallout of that going wrong. There are a
number of security habits companies need to adopt to adequately protect themselves against a
breach:

1. Regulate Wi-Fi traffic with intelligent policy firewalls that can keep track of app usage.
This ensures that different apps are classified according to its security rating based on
the role of the employee within the organisation. These apps would be allowed to be
used on select mobile devices by select users, only if they satisfy live security monitoring
by the policy firewall and cloud-powered content filtering.

2. Make sure that all communications over the air are encrypted and sent over secure
channels. This requires a smart combination of encryption and VPN-on-demand
technologies that prevent information from being snooped on, and – even in the event
that the information falls into the wrong hands – is rendered gibberish.

3. Focus on the interactions between users, apps and data. The perimeter has shifted from
the idea of building a wall around your enterprise and fortifying your organisation with a
firewall. The Internet of Theft (IOT) and Bring your own Disaster (BYOD) have become
prevalent in the organisation, considering that business users and consumers nowadays
demand access to data and business insights anywhere and in a commoditised form.

4. Managing the security of BYOD, IoT, BYOX, whatever you’d like to call it, requires a
secure yet flexible wireless network within the workplace. Companies should deploy
flexible security policies that are capable of analysing – and acting on - the context of
how an individual employee is using a mobile device, and where they are accessing
information from.

By all means, organisations in the Middle East should embrace #GenMobile’s penchant for
openness, innovation and collaboration, using any device they wish. But only when they can
understand and plan for the security risks these behaviours bring along.

About the Author

Ammar Enaya, Regional Director, HPE Aruba, Middle East & Turkey

23 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – September 2016 Edition
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