Avoid Security Issues Posed by Lost Devices With Endpoint and Device Management

It’s easy for people to lose track of their belongings. This might include car keys, wallets, umbrellas, and mobile devices. For personal devices, this can be a headache for individuals. When a mobile device belongs to your organization, it remains connected to your network and produces financial and security risks to the company.

Learn how you can mitigate this security risk with endpoint management tools.

What’s the Security Risk Associated with Lost Devices?

Bad actors who want to access your network can use lost devices to help them hack into your corporate network. Even BYOD devices that connect to a network can result in significant security vulnerabilities. Hackers can use devices to find a backdoor into your network or use them for social engineering hacking.

For example, hackers targeting your company can use information from any mobile device that connects to your network. By reading messages, hackers know what department the employee works for and what projects they are pursuing. Using company jargon and references, hackers sometimes reach out to finance departments to require wire transfers. Some of these efforts contain convincing messages that it may be hard for your team to recognize as fraud.

Other risks include the following:

• Financial costs

• Regulatory fine

• Stolen corporate or customer data

• Loss of trust

• Recovery expense

• Notification expense (to tell customers their data has been compromised)

To avoid these risks, it’s critical to track and control company-owned smartphones and tablets and track BYOD devices. How do you implement this in an efficient, effective manner?

Unified Endpoint Management

You can pair unified endpoint management or UEM solutions with devices that connect to your network. These solutions include MobileIron and AirWatch as well as many other vendors. Implementing a device management program can help you track lost devices and prevent security risks.

So, how does it work?

Let’s say an employee loses a company smartphone or tablet. They might not realize right away that they have left it behind at the airport or that someone removed it from their workstation. Therefore, it may be some time before they notify your device management team. If you have unified endpoint management, the IT team can wipe the device remotely upon notification from the employee. However, this usually takes many hours which provides a window of opportunity to hackers and thieves.

By pairing UEM with an automated device management program, you empower an employee to start the process with a lost device alert. At this point, several workflows go into action. For example, an API contacts your UEM system to clear the device.

This secures the device while other workflows begin the process of ordering a replacement for company hardware or requesting information regarding the new BYOD device. It can also trigger transferring licenses and apps to a replacement device.

Enacting multiple workflows at the same time can cut back on administrative processes and resolved the issue much more quickly through the use of APIs and bots.

Compliance Benefits

A device management system partnered with a UEM allows you to register devices across both platforms. This is a good cross-check that enhances security and can prevent Trojan horses from threatening your security framework.

Tangoe and similar providers allow your company to adopt best practices and control your devices from a financial and security standpoint. It also streamlines the process of getting replacement devices back into your employees’ hands so that they can remain productive.

Valicom can help your company manage your devices and telecom expenses effectively.

Contact us today for a free demo

sales@valicomcorp.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: JEFF POIRIOR

Jeff brings 25 years of telecommunications and information technology management experience in voice and data networking, server support, and telephony and security; with a significant emphasis on customer service. Prior to joining Valicom, he was chief of the infrastructure support section for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Jeff was the vice president of operations for CC&N, overseeing telecommunications, help desk, data, and desk side support services. Prior to that, he served as the associate director of technical resources for Covance, responsible for managing systems and network operations supporting 1700 users in Wisconsin and Virginia. He has also led data center operations at Magnetek Electric, supporting mainframe systems, client/server applications, telephony systems, and computer-aided design. Jeff holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Cardinal Stritch University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. In addition, Jeff is a past board member of the Wisconsin Telecommunication Association.