FEATURE
Josh Neame , Technology Director at BlueFort Security
The Coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on many aspects of the economy . But while many businesses have been focusing on maintaining operations in the face of remote working and changing consumer demands , threat actors around the world have been capitalising on the crisis .
Deloitte points out that its Cyber Intelligence Centre has observed a spike in phishing attacks , Malspams and ransomware , with threat actors using COVID-19 as bait to mislead employees – many of whom are now working remotely , beyond the confines of the corporate network and using a variety of mobile devices .
CISOs are now facing a host of new security challenges brought on by the rapid deployment of tools , technologies and processes that enabled people to work remotely . Many of these changes happened in a matter of days and the rushed nature of the rollout now poses some major data security issues . The ‘ new normal ’ has changed both the scope and definition of how CISOs will need to think about ‘ mobile security ’ going into 2021 .
The risk of insider threat is not a new one . However , the shift in working practices , associated devices and locations is making it far easier for these types of threat to go unnoticed – whether they ’ re malicious or just a simple mistake . The mobile nature of the new IT environment means CISOs will need to consider a range of new tools and processes . Here we look at three ways CISOs should be rethinking how they approach ‘ mobile security ’ to ensure their organisation is both productive and secure in 2021 .
1 . The proliferation of mobile devices
With more employees now working on mobile devices , the key question for CISOs is : are the devices my employees are using properly secured ? The proliferation of mobile devices widens the organisation ’ s potential attack surface . This threat is further amplified by the associated increase in cloud adoption and the short-term Bring Your Own Device ( BYOD ) policies many organisations rolled out to overcome the initial challenges of COVID-19 .
The very definition of a corporate mobile device is also now changing , with considerations around iOS , Android , Surface , Chromebook , Mac and Windows all varying considerably . Security leaders now have a much longer list of ’ new ’ vectors . Given that initial short-term solutions are fast becoming long-term operational models , CISOs need to be asking :
• Does our organisation have the relevant tools in place to gain visibility and control of these devices ? Can all of these device types be managed effectively or denied access to services ?
• Can our organisation audit and control application usage , license usage and the impact of shadow IT ?
• Do these devices meet corporate standards , or device policies for web filtering , malware detection , DLP , application control and patching ?
Strong unified endpoint management ( UEM ) data loss prevention ( DLP ) policies and the application of a cloud access security broker ( CASB ) will be important tools for any security organisation moving into an era of more permanent remote working . These will provide visibility – on a user , device and activity level – as well as the ability to enforce granular security policies , for example on files or messages containing sensitive or restricted data . This will also extend both visibility and manageability to other third-party cloud applications .
But while security is undoubtedly the number one priority , CISOs will also have to place a renewed focus on privacy while rolling out these changes . The increase in BYOD and personal device usage will present a number of privacy implications and concerns from employees . While organisations will be seeking visibility of anything corporate , controls will need to be put in place to ensure this does not extend to employees ’ shopping habits or Netflix favourites . As the lines between corporate and personal www . intelligentciso . com
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