Sage Advice - Cybersecurity Blog

In today’s world, it can be time consuming to keep up with the current cyberthreat landscape, especially when many organizations do not have dedicated security staff. However, the landscape changes daily, and it’s important to be aware of what’s happening in the digital world that surrounds you.

Despite their immense popularity, ubiquity, and ability to find their way into just about any IT conversation and industry content, mobile devices haven’t attracted much interest from the attack side. Though device infections did reach a new high in April 2016, they comprised just 1.06% of total malware infections, explained Kevin McNamee, director of Nokia’s Threat Intelligence Lab, during his presentation at the 2016 CyberCrime Symposium.

It’s commonplace to use a mobile device in your day-to-day business life. Most companies have a mobile offering. And just like any business tool – especially one that has online capabilities – it’s important to assess the risks that mobile devices pose to your business, and then implement controls that can help mitigate those risks. From there, you should create a mobile device policy. 

Today being mobile in business is essential – and determining how your business manages mobile devices is important. There are cost considerations, use considerations, and management considerations.  But security considerations should also be an integral part of your mobile device strategy.  Almost every company out there has some kind of mobile offering, but if you’ve never considered the strategic elements of your program, it’s worth revisiting and potentially changing your practices based on what you find.

The use of mobile devices continues to grow.  According to comScore’s 2016 U.S. Cross-Platform Future in Focus, in the United States, mobile represents 65% of all digital media time, and mobile applications (apps) dominate that usage.  It’s fairly common for businesses today to have a mobile app, where clients can access your products and services directly from their smartphones or other mobile devices quickly and easily.  If you’re considering developing an app, or updating an existing one, it’s important to keep in mind that the development process is not just about providing a positive user experience or incorporating a fancy design, security must be part of the conversation from the very beginning.