The requirement for an enterprise or organisational secure mobile communication platform is continuing to grow in today’s society. Instead of fighting the trend, businesses should embrace it by implementing it into their business communications processes and by leveraging the many advantages that a secure communication platform can bring.
According to BusinessWire by 2025, the BYOD and Enterprise Mobility markets will be worth more than £37 billion. Ultimately, business mobility is becoming a vital component of every company’s digital transformation and growth strategy.
The Insecurity of Mobile Devices is at an all time high
Employees are increasingly relying on consumer messaging apps for work-related communications, in addition to conventional business communications like email and unified communications. While there are some advantages to using these applications, the risks they pose to companies outweigh the advantages. WhatsApp, for example, according to their own policies was never designed with the intention of being used by businesses, but it has been widely adopted by businesses due to its user-friendly services, despite the fact that it lacks the level of protection required for professional use.
Due to the increase of working from home over the past year due to COVID-19, the growing demand from workers to use their personal devices for work is one of the many issues IT security administrators must deal with. Worse still for those IT managers, mobile device protection and public Wi-Fi network vulnerabilities remain at an all-time high. The development of key reinstallation attacks (KRACKs) to exploit vulnerabilities in WPA2, the most widely used security protocol in modern Wi-Fi networks, is just the latest example of public Wi-Fi vulnerability.
Unless mobile traffic is properly encrypted before being sent to the internet through a rapidly expanding public Wi-Fi footprint, it is susceptible to a number of exploits. These range from man-in-the-middle attacks aimed at eavesdropping or intercepting confidential data such as logins and passwords to crypto-mining for digital currencies using the device’s electrification.
Bad actors will continue to explore new ways to adapt their strategies as smartphone usage and public Wi-Fi access continue to expand at a rapid rate. All the security protocols in the world won’t fix an enterprise’s weakest link: its own workers, it almost goes without saying.
… Unless, there is something to protect the employees and the network itself
Businesses need a solution that allows remote users to securely communicate confidential information without adding the many cyber risks associated with the use of personal devices and unsecured Wi-Fi to solve this complex equation. They also need a solution that can accomplish this without compromising efficiency or versatility.
By offering the right secure communications platform to your employees it gives employers the security of knowing that they are operating a completely closed system to support their employees’ interactions and the confidential data involved. This is a key reason why organisations should have to pay for enterprise apps rather than leveraging free consumer apps. Secure enterprise communications is a worthwhile investment if it means all communication of confidential business information is protected.
Enterprise apps enable businesses to manage communications, which consumer apps do not. By failing to implement a secure communications platform, many businesses are putting themselves at risk. Enterprise messaging systems, such as Salt Communications, offer the safest option. Salt Communications is a leading secure enterprise mobile messaging platform which ensures the highest grade of secure communications and the utmost protection of sensitive information.
In today’s dynamic cyber security world, mobility is the new front line for security as companies balance the benefits of an increasingly mobile workforce against the need to protect sensitive data. The onus of securing the endpoint, however, should not be placed solely on employee devices. Enterprises must have confidence in the security of their employees’ connections, regardless of link type or computer. We’ll get closer to this target as secure communications evolves and employers recognise the risk mobile devices pose to businesses before it’s too late.
If you require further assistance feel free to reach out to our team for more information on this article. To sign up for a free trial of Salt Communications or to talk to a member of the Salt Communications team, please contact us on info@saltcommunications.com.
About Salt Communications
Salt Communications, ranked in the top half in the Cybersecurity 500, provides a fully enterprise-managed software solution that enables absolute privacy in mobile communications. It is easy to deploy and uses multi-layered encryption techniques to meet the highest of security standards. The Salt Communications Desktop and Mobile apps are intuitive and easy to install and use. Salt Communications’ Communication Manager provides a console for tight management of users and can be configured for the management of regulatory compliance. Salt Communications is headquartered in Belfast, Ireland, for more information visit saltcommunications.com.