Like many people today, I am away from my office on a regular basis, often visiting with customers and industry analysts.   Though travel is by no means a glamorous event these days, it does create the opportunity to discuss the “issues of the day” with senior IT and security management from companies around the world. 

During these discussions, it’s not uncommon for me to hear comments like, “We’ve got mobile device security and management covered” or, another favorite, “We’re going to wait until something happens first…”  

With increasing cybercrime and motivated hackers looking for any possibility to obtain user credentials, credit card numbers, and even intellectual property, I can’t understand this apathetic position.  Events of large companies falling prey to data theft, often having dramatic impact on the company’s health, are very well documented.  Apathy is not a tactic or strategy for organizations to stay protected and out of the press.

Now, IT does have tools to help monitor and change devices they can touch but, if the user is not coming to the LAN, these tools are ineffective in providing the awareness and control over these mobile devices.  They do a great job on LAN based devices but have no visibility, and lack reach to the mobile devices in this scenario.  You can’t solve problems that you don’t know exist.

The fact is, most companies recognize the importance of securing their data but they really don’t know how it’s being used or whether data leakage has occurred.  A lost device can have a very negative impact on a company’s reputation.

Think about taking THE CALL from executive management when they find out a device was lost or stolen.  How long will it take to verify the conditions of that device, in terms of data value or whether it was encrypted?  You may think “you have it covered” but how can you prove it to an auditor?  This can be a very messy situation.

Companies need to look for solutions that provide visibility and control over device and data whereabouts while the device is off that LAN and most vulnerable.  Having the awareness that an event has occurred and the ability to implement a change to prevent if from re-occurring, is critical to successful mobile device protection.

These types of solutions will help you protect your company’s most important asset; proprietary data, while also providing timely visibility when your IT management gets …   THE CALL.