5 tips on protecting your mobile workforce from cyberattacks

1 Feb 2019 | SMB, Digitalisation | 5 min read

As employees' reliance on mobile devices increase, so does the opportunity for security risks. Two common security issues specific to a mobile workforce are

• the risk of employees devices picking up malware or viruses, and bringing them to the company network;
• and the risks arising from Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD schemes (what users are able to take out from the work environment).

A 2017 study showed a 40 percent year-on-year increase in mobile cyberattacks, from 1.2 million to 1.7 million attacks per month, with at least 788 new variations of viruses per month. Mobile security attacks are rapidly increasing in frequency and scale, as more users carry their valuable data in their smartphones or other portable devices.

Safety, however, should not be sacrificed for the sake of mobility. Here are some tips on how to secure your mobile workforce's data from cyberattacks:

Most employees do not want to use their own mobile data when there are wireless hotspots available, but free wi-fi networks are often unsecured. Hackers may also do network spoofing on unsecured networks to try and steal user email address and password combinations.

Another potential way hackers can gain access to your secure data is through USB connected devices. A new research from the Ben Gurion University has identified at least 29 types of USB attacks, from the trivial to the malicious, including gaining access and taking control of your portable devices through key presses using micro-controllers.

On a smaller mobile screen, it is harder to verify whether an email looks legitimate, making them more vulnerable to email phishing. Email monitoring is crucial to most businesses and knowing what not to click should be impressed upon on your workforce.

Multi-factor authentication (or the more common 2-factor authentication, 2FA) creates a barrier against potential attackers with minimal disruption to legitimate user accounts. These factors can range from passwords and pass-phrases to biometrics and software tokens. Encourage the same for your employees’ personal portable devices.

While there are technology solutions available to remote manage lost or stolen devices and the data on them, with the introduction of the GDPR laws, businesses may need to take extra measures in protecting all the data they collect, including their employee's.

Make it mandatory for an employee to report any loss. Have a policy in place whether data stored in the lost devices can be wiped out remotely, and whether location tracking applications can be activated to allow the recovery of the devices.

ZoneAlarm is a premium mobile security solution that protects mobile users on both iOS and Android phones. Protection starts from the point of accessing any WiFi network to using an app so that you can bank, shop and browse safely.