In today’s business world, mobility is essential. In 2012, according to research from ZDNet, the average mobile worker carried 3.5 devices, which can include a mix of business and personal devices. This number is surely higher today. With the convenience of being able to work remotely from anywhere in the world comes the risk of data loss (destruction) and data breaches. Although the destruction of company data due to a destroyed device can be detrimental to a business, this blog will cover the risk of data breaches which could have a far more devastating and lasting impact.

Remote device security should begin with limiting who has access. Not every employee is going to require it, nor should they be granted access. All remote users, no matter who they are, should go through some kind of basic safety instructions on how to implement and maintain security on their devices. In addition, all devices with remote access must be configured with both a timeout and password, before being allowed to access the business’s data. End users should not be able to disable these functions. Finally, a remote wipe solution should be implemented on all remote devices, whether they be credit union issued or personal devices. Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of remote wipe solutions, and what happens if you’re depending too heavily upon them.

Some of the ways remote wipes can be accomplished are as follows:

1. Some carriers have the ability to remotely wipe phones on their network. They can either do this themselves or instruct the business on how to do it.
2. Install remote wipe software on the device. The down side to this process is that if a device is taken offline, data could be breached before the wipe could be performed.
3. Some remote solutions rely on remote apps being in a separate encrypted container, segregated from the rest of the device’s functions. This solution could also include full encryption of the device.

 

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