ZSL, IBM Business Partner, talks about ZSL's capability to develop secured cross-platform mobile app with reduced development cost using Worklight.
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Showing posts with label Mobile Solutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mobile Solutions. Show all posts
Friday, October 19, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Do’s & Don’ts for BYOD and COPE Mobile Users
Businesses
are going mobile one way or the other. Employees prefer to carry their personal
modern mobile devices such as Smartphones and Tablets to work because of their
ease of use and availability. On the other hand, enterprises introduce
corporate owned mobile devices to gain pre-established security as in the
desktop era. In either case it is evident that these modern devices have
changed the personal lives of people in many ways from storing and sharing
photos, personal information, social media networking and more. So, people wanted
to use the mobile technology
that transformed their personal lives in the work place. So also, enterprises
visualize many benefits of leveraging mobility into their businesses like the increase
in employee productivity, satisfaction, responsiveness, rapid reach of
information and more. Employees feel more content with the freedom to use the
mobile devices of their choice. Also, with the greater degree of ownership and
personal finance involved, they take time to maintain their beloved gadgets.
Mobile
users are of two groups: Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) users and Company Owned
Personally Enabled (COPE) device users. Consumers of either group are driving
and adopting technology at a faster rate than the enterprises which is termed
as Consumerization of IT. This trend presents both challenges and opportunities
for enterprises. A reasonable usage policy by the implementation of Mobile Device Management (MDM)
solution helps the enterprises to avail most of the opportunities such as
optimizing support cost, reducing business risks and administering corporate
policies and procedures at ease and to avoid the potential pitfalls of proprietary
information leakage & loss, network security threat and more. On the other
hand, below is the list of do’s and don’ts that will help the employees to enjoy
the benefits of safe use of personally owned and personally enabled devices at work.
Download Apps from
Known Source: Refrain from downloading apps from unknown
sources rather than procuring them from official websites.
Review the Apps: Even before downloading
the apps from the official websites, read the reviews to know the general opinion
of the apps.
Permissions: Be vigilant while
granting permissions to install apps in your mobile devices
Safe Browsing Habits: Adopt a keen watch
over the web surfing activities. The dangers that exist on the web can also
exploit the mobile devices.
Phishing SMS or VM: Do not respond to
questionable voicemail or text unless you call the institution directly and
verify the information.
Password Authentication: Use standard password
protection methods such as PIN numbers and automatically generated pass codes
to enhance the physical security of the mobile device. Enhance device security that minimizes the
threat of losing personal information such as stored logins to banking and
social media sites.
VPN Access: Use SSL VPN access
to secure the session while accessing the corporate network resources using
smartphones.
WiFi Hotspot Security: Almost all the
modern devices are equipped with WiFi functionality. Avoid accessing the
password protected websites such as banking or social media sites while
connected to insecure WiFi hotspots when in a tea shop or in an airport
terminal.
Remote Wipe &
Encryption: Enable
encryption, remote wipe facilities on mobile devices to protect data in the
event a device is lost or stolen.
Use Security Apps: Consider to buy
robust security apps available in the market for mobile devices.
Update: Always keep the mobile device operating systems and
software up-to-date.
To
conclude, the employees in an enterprise gain the power of personal computers, when
they use these hand-held devices such as the Smartphones and Tablets for their
day-to-day tasks, but smarter and secured usage will help them to keep their
personal and corporate data from out of the reach to other third party or
external attacks.
By-Emma Watson
By-Emma Watson
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Enterprise Mobile Device Management
ZSL has designed MobilePower Center, a cross-platform Unified Mobile Device Management Solution that renders an intelligent mobile management solution to address the real time challenges of the organizations in leveraging mobility devices for their businesses ─ distribution and deployment of apps in user mobile devices; back-ups and disaster recovery management for business continuity, security & compliance management; scalability & high performance efficiency; lost device management and optimized resource utilization -- all at competitive pricing.
Is Security a Blow to BYOD?
In the recent times,
smartphones and tablets are conquering the enterprises in breakneck speed. The
concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a growing trend in enterprise
businesses. With the consumerization of enterprise mobility, a growing
percentage of employees are bringing their personal devices to work. The
relative shift from stable mobile environments to diverse mobile devices pose
severe challenges to IT in different areas such as the access control,
enforcement of corporate policies and procedures, security of confidential data
on user devices and a number of mobile security issues. Security in BYOD seems
to be serious threat to enterprises, which they can mitigate by devising and implementing
appropriate security best practices through a successful personal BYOD program
to run their business operations diligently.
As modern
technological advancements like mobility penetrates deep into today’s corporate
environments, the enterprise enjoy many benefits such as the increased employee
productivity, satisfaction and effectiveness. However, there are significant
concerns about the privacy and security of sensitive corporate data stored on
these mobile devices that IT must tackle. Enterprises must adopt security best
practices as a reasonable usage policy rather than viewing it as a deterrent to
the BYOD program. The important security best practices an enterprise should
employ for a safe BYOD program are discussed in this article.
Physical Security
Enterprises should
enhance the physical security of the mobile devices accessing the corporate
networks, through BYOD programs, by employing multifactor authentication. The existing
corporate security policies must also be extended to BYOD such as enforcing the
use of a user name, strong password with a combination of special characters,
numbers & alphabets and a series of PIN numbers such as 4 digits personal identification
numbers and 6 digits codes which are generated automatically and expire in a
short duration of time, e.g. 30 or 60 sec.
Identity & Access
Enterprises should
set access levels and permissions for each user or user groups accessing their corporate
network using BYOD or COPE (company owned personally enabled) devices. This is
accomplished by setting up user profiles for each of the employees in an
enterprise. Access permissions need to be set for each of the business critical
applications, folder and for files that are saved, read, edited and emailed. Thus,
authorized mobile device users will access the corporate network in a secured manner.
Devising a proper Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution would help the
enterprises to keep track of the mobile devices (either company owned or
employee owned) connected to the corporate network. The user management console
of the MDM solution would help the IT managers to manage the identity and
access settings for each of the employees in an enterprise. Centralized MDM software can also help to
update the access rights and roll out the updates to the operating system and
applications installed on the mobile devices from one central console.
Enterprises should
also ensure that their cellular network service providers have built in
security across their network. These include two-factor authentication support,
anti-malware, anti-spam software, public key infrastructure (PKI)
authentication and fraud detection.
Content Security
Enterprises should
ensure that proper security protocols are in place on the corporate network, so
that BYOD users accessing the network through their encrypted device from a
Public IP would gain access to only authorized resources. BYOD does not mean
that any corporate data in the enterprise network is freely accessible. A good
combination of intelligent software’s such as anti-malware, data encryption,
content filtration, data loss prevention (DLP) and intrusion prevention
software help to safeguard the corporate data from un-authorized access. If the
device is lost or stolen and falls into the hands of strangers, the enterprises must prevent the corporate
data loss by remotely administering account lock-out or wiping features of the
MDM software. Thus, content security is enforced with reasonable BYOD program
in enterprises.
Remote Access with SSL VPN
Enterprises must setup
a secure network connection for their BYOD users using virtual private networks
(VPNs). Single socket layer virtual private network (SSL VPN) unlike the other
VPNs renders employees with enormous flexibility to access the network securely
from any remote location and from any mobile device. SSL VPNs provide access to
shared resources without any security
concerns in transmitting sensitive data over the internet, since it encrypts
the data as it traverses over the internet. Furthermore, SSL VPN provides secure remote connectivity without the
need for software to be installed on each device.
Detect Jail Breaks
Enterprises should
automatically detect jailbroken or rooted mobile devices connecting to the
corporate network in the BYOD program. Such devices need to be refused connectivity
to the corporate networks and thus containing the resulting business risk.
Enterprises should proactively assess the integrity of the mobile devices used
for business during device enrollment and thereafter periodically. One way to
accomplish this is by employing a MDM Solution in the corporate network that
can detect the jailbroken or rooted devices. Push notifications need to be sent
to the jailbroken devices to remedy the device, if it fails the compromised
device need to be unenrolled from network or remotely wiped using MDM tools.
MDM & ITSM
Business IT teams
look for MDM Solutions with the
rising popularity of BYOD in enterprises. However, there exist a disconnection
between MDM and ITSM (IT Service Management) strategies which results in
inefficiencies and misunderstandings. Enterprises should efficiently integrate
MDM capabilities to their existing ITSM platforms to gain control over all the
assets such as desktops, laptops and mobile devices from a single focal point.
This results in increased consistency and transparency throughout the
organization. Profoundly, integrated solutions allow for complete control of
devices, including enforcement of passcodes, detect jailbreaks or rooting,
ability to remotely lock or wipe the lost or stolen devices and the ability to
remotely configure WiFi or email configurations.
Conclusion
There are very many
MDM products available in the market suiting to the specific needs of the
enterprise and its security. The complex legal impact of the BYOD practice
should be carefully considered by employing a multi-factor approach. Security
in a BYOD program results in a reasonable personal device usage policy which
mitigates the risks and it is truly a win/win game for the users and the
organizations.
by Emma Watson
by Emma Watson
Monday, September 10, 2012
15 Best Security Practices for Mobile Device Management
Enterprises tend to enhance employee productivity by allowing
smartphones and tablets at work. But, lack of essential security and mobile
device management (MDM) strategies introduces new risks to the corporate
resources and privacy of smartphone/tablet users. Security complexity will
further increase, when enterprises adopt bring-your-own-devices (BYOD) to work.
The data contained in these employee-owned personal devices are sensitive and
critical to the enterprise businesses. Issues of security, compliance, legality,
trust, device ownership, data leakage needs attention. Thus, a strong corporate
policy coupled with the best security practices is essential for a good enterprise mobility initiative.
According to a recent Forrester Research Report, smartphones’ use by the
US-based information workers is expected to triple by 2013. Also, the use of tablets
to work is rising at a steep rate. Today within the US and Canadian businesses half
of the smartphones are not company-issued equipment, reports Forrester. Most
analysts feel that a better mobile device security strategy is to be
made sooner than later. Let’s discuss here the top 15 best security practices
for mobile device management that helps the enterprises to manage mobility and
BYOD strategies in their business operations.
1 –Choice of
Mobile Devices for Enterprises
The first and foremost strategy is the choice of the mobile devices. Mobile
devices having inbuilt security is best to be used in the enterprises than the others
that does not provide enough security which is commonly used by the general
consumers. Enterprises need to allow only the mobile devices that have the best
possible control and security inbuilt with them.
2 – Enterprises
to Devise a Strong Security Policy
As most modern devices such as the smartphones and tablets do not have
encryption inbuilt within the hardware, it is impractical to fully encrypt the
mobile devices. However, enterprises must strive to employ a good encryption
method which is a key to build a strong security policy by suitably choosing OS
and device encryption methods. Device encryption method would help to encrypt
the local storage, but enterprises must ensure that it covers all the risk
areas including the internal and external memory. Enterprises should also adopt
OS encryption methods by installing respective third-party apps to secure text
messages, e-mails, calendars, contacts, voice calls and other critical
communications. Thus, enterprises can suitably devise a strong security policy
with the help of device and OS encryption methods.
3 –Extend Existing
Corporate Security Policies to Mobile Devices
Enterprises should enforce the existing security policies, in practice, such
as password protection, authentication access etc to the mobile devices also.
That is, mobile devices accessing the corporate networks should be enforced to
comply with the enterprises’ authentication and security process. Currently existing
rules within the corporate networks such as passwords of specific maximum
length with a combination of uppercase characters and special characters can be
applied to mobile devices accessing the corporate networks.
Enterprises that adopt Mobility and BYOD at work for its employees
should have an effective Mobile Device
Management solution in place in the absence of which mobile security becomes an optional
and increases the security risks. An effective MDM solution to enforce organization’s
compliance, policies and procedures will enable the enterprises to secure their
corporate networks accessed over the mobility devices, to regulate the usage of
mobile apps & devices and to manage their mobile application users.
5 – Registry
of Mobile Devices
Take stock of the mobile devices connected to the corporate network. It
is an important security principle to be employed in the corporate houses where
mobility is enabled into their businesses. If an enterprise is specific about
the type of smartphones/tablets it allows for its business operations, then
security policies should be formulated to restrict the usage of the other type
of devices. However, enterprises at its discretion can allow a new type of
mobile device to connect to their corporate network but have them enrolled into
your corporate compliance regulations and security policies to ensure security
of your business data.
6 –Automated
Wiping & Remote Locks
Identifying unusual situations like jail breaks, lost device, device
theft, number of repeated failed login attempts or not connected to the network
for lengthy period say for more than a month, and enabling those mobile devices
for remote wiping, automatic padlocking and account locks is an essential
security mechanism that enterprises need to adopt to safeguard enterprise data.
7 –Installing
Only White-listed Applications
Enterprises of all sizes struggle to protect their network end points
from constant attack of malware. Application white listing is one of the best practices
that enterprises should try to implement to enhance the security of the mobile
devices in their corporate network. This approach has gained traction during the
recent days which works in reverse to the traditional defenses such as anti-virus
and firewalls by permitting only good known files. Tentative listing of applications
allows only authorized software to be installed on the mobile devices and prevents
the malicious software from entering the corporate network. Also, it typically
acts as a barrier to protect the mobile devices from being exploited with
malicious software contents. This could be troublesome from the user
perspective, but for the enterprises it is really a great step towards securing
their corporate network.
8 – Common
SSL VPN Connectivity
Enterprises should employ VPN access to enjoy the benefits of shared
networks without any security concerns in transmitting sensitive data over the
internet, since it encrypts the data as it traverses over the internet. Secure
socket layer virtual private network (SSL VPN) can be used to share networks
and secure remote access to users or group of users using laptops, PCs, smartphones
and tablets to any other critical client–server resources used in the corporate
network. This approach will reduce the overhead expenses of IT department by using
a single tunnel for network access instead of one solution for laptops, PCs and
another for tablets and mobile devices. So networks admin need to evaluate and select
the appropriate SSL VPN gateway solution that supports all type of clients
including PCs, laptops, tablets and mobile devices of all platforms.
9 –Reverse Web
Proxies for Secured Access
Reverse web proxies performs authentication and encryption of the data
access that is happening over the Web. This will enable its users access the
Web in a secured manner from any of their client devices whether it is a smartphone
or tablet or a laptop or PC. Reverse proxies can be created as an additional
security layer to front-end public, private and trusted servers, while storing
the sensitive and critical information in the internal network immune to the
external security vulnerabilities and network attacks. Enterprises enabling
mobility and BYOD into their businesses should implement these reverse proxies
to provide safe access to its corporate networks for the users who are
accessing to over the web from their smartphone or tablet devices.
10 – Run Regular
Security Updates & Patches
Any mobile operating systems and their upgrades and updates are prone to
security vulnerabilities and hacker attacks, which is countered by parallel security
patch releases. Enterprises need to ensure that the mobile devices connected to
their corporate network are installed with regular security updates along with
updates of new upgrades and patches for the mobile operating systems (iOS,
Android OS, Blackberry OS, etc).
11 –Extending
Firewall Policies to Mobility Devices
Enterprises should control the traffic that is coming from the smartphones
and tablets by setting up unique firewall policies. A firewall helps by
restricting access to a corporate network and provides access that is really
needed for the specific user. An example would be, setting off the access to a
financial database with firewall and providing access to the network resources
that users reasonably want to use.
12 – Installing
Intrusion Prevention System
Enterprises need to install intrusion prevention systems (IPS) that is
very essential to study the traffic that is coming from the smartphones and
tablets. IPS helps to proactively respond to security threats initiated on the
corporate network by the smartphones and tablets. They help to filter out the
routine events from critical threats and also highlight the incidents that
require immediate action. It is easy to visualize the attacks that are coming
in from the smartphones and tablets as they being sophisticated devices.
13 –Securing
Wireless (Wi-Fi) Connectivity
CNET News reports estimates that 90 per cent of the smartphones and
tablet devices in usage will have Wi-Fi functionality by 2014. Enterprises must
confirm the security of the wireless connectivity by devising various security
measures such as disabling auto-connectivity to Wi-Fi. Security of the wireless
network should also be enhanced on par with the wired networks by running deep
packet inspection. Traffic connected to the corporate network through Wi-Fi
devices should apply WPA2 and deep packet inspection. Proper intrusion
prevention software should be in place for mobile devices connected through Wi-Fi
devices.
14 –Secured Bluetooth
Usage
Though Bluetooth is a very advantageous feature for smartphone users where
they can talk hands free while they drive or perform another task, they are
easily prone to hacker attacks. The discoverable feature of blue tooth makes
the devices vulnerable to hackers. Enterprises must enforce to disable or
toggle the Blue-tooth devices to hidden mode that are not in active information
transmission. Blue-tooth functionality in today’s smartphones helps the users
to talk easily with hands-free headsets, but is easily prone to hackers. This
is also a way hacker’s gain access to the devices because of the always-on and
always discoverable feature of the Blue-tooth device.
15 – Follow Federal
& State Laws
The US states and other Governments
have stringent local laws governing the exposure of sensitive and private data
of their residents. It is high time enterprises need to be aware of those laws
and include them in their corporate security policies governing the usage of
smartphones and tablets into their businesses. It would be mandatory for the
enterprises to encrypt all the customer data on the mobile devices to comply
with the federal and state notification laws.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Everything about Mobile Apps that you want to know!
What are Mobile Apps?
Mobile
Apps are applications or services that can be downloaded and installed to a
mobile device, rather than being rendered within a browser, which helps to meet personal use or
business requirements for the user. The app may
pull content and data from the Internet, in similar fashion to a website, or it
may download the content so that it can be accessed without an Internet
connection. A mobile app may be a mobile Website bookmarking utility, a mobile-based instant messaging
client, Gmail for
mobile, and many other applications.
The small-business demographic is pushing the envelope when it comes
to mobile technology adoption. The fact is that they have really being doing so
for the last decade.
The Corporate Mobile App Strategy Survey, published by
partnerpedia.com, found that 78 per cent of the large companies with 500
employees or more had a desire to purchase apps. Of those, 90.2 per cent intend
to buy mobile solutions
for use by employees, while 43.9 per cent wanted apps for customers. The
survey, which also included responses from companies with less than 500
employees, found that 22 per cent are buying apps for contractors.
And, close to 40 percent of small-business owners are using five more mobile apps to run
their business, according to an ongoing survey conducted by J2 Global.
The number of mobile business apps – some cloud-based, some residing
on the device – is proliferating. We can expect to see even more being
developed as a result of the new HTML 5 standard, says David Bradshaw, a
research manager at analyst IDC. HTML 5 makes it possible to develop apps
simultaneously for different mobile platforms, so that a business that chooses
to roll out a sales app. There are also a growing number of apps designed
specifically for mobile use. These can be very generic or targeted at
particular sectors.
Business Advantages of
Mobile Apps:
If personal mobile phones and tablets are now an integral part of
working life, how can enterprises turn this to business advantage? Many
organisations have started carefully, by allowing employees to access the
firm’s email and calendar applications from their mobile devices. Even this can
save time and money.
The advantage of an enterprise app store is that the IT function can
configure apps appropriately before they are downloaded, and create blacklists
or whitelists of apps for users. IT then has a single point from which to
manage the provisioning and decommissioning of apps and the implementation of
security policies.
However, most of the companies allow users to choose their own mobile
apps, because users understand their own needs better than the IT function. Whichever
approach is chosen, it is still hugely important to put security policies in
place to protect corporate data.
Mobile
Apps are popular with business owners and their customers. With today's market
going mobile, Apps help you keep pace:
Benefits
for Business – Apps:
- Build relationships
- Build loyalty
- Reinforce your brand
- Increase your visibility
- Increase your accessibility
- Solve the problem of getting stuck in spam folders
- Increase sell-through
- Increase exposure across mobile devices
- Connect you with on-the-go consumers
- Generate repeat business
- Give you tools that are driving the "New App Economy"
- Enhance your social networking strategies
Symantec's 2012 State of Mobility survey has revealed an uptake of
mobile applications within enterprises across the globe.
Commissioned by Symantec, Applied Research spoke with 6,275
organisations in 43 countries from August to November in 2011.
The survey highlighted an expansion of both adapting and customising
mobile software for business purposes across the board -- 71 percent of
enterprises stating that there were at least current discussions concerning the
ways in which custom mobile applications could assist their business, including
the idea of custom 'stores' for employees to download authorised and
corporation-related applications.
In terms of an improvement in business practices and increased
efficiency levels, according to the survey, 73 percent of small and large
corporations alike have enjoyed a positive result through the adoption of
mobile technology.
What’s New in Mobiles apps market?
As the smartphone market grows, so too do the
apps you can use on them, uses of mobile app technology to get you up to speed
with your handheld device and its potential.
Following are the trending Mobile Apps top opportunities that are
already taking hold of the mobile app market or that we expect to take off in
the near future.
Mobile Health
In the recent days Mobile apps are changing the way healthcare
industry do business, permeating every step of the health and core aspect of
their operations.
Nine percent of all cell owners
have apps on their phones that help them track or manage their health.
"I was surprised to see that
almost one in ten cell phone users have a health app. I thought it would be
lower,” said Susannah Fox, Associate Director of Pew Research Center's Internet
& American Life Project and author of the report, 85 percent of American
adults who use a mobile phone today 17 percent have used their phone to look up
health or medical information. The percentage goes up to 15 percent for mobile
phone users aged 18 to 29-years-old. Only 8 percent of mobile phone users aged
30 to 49-years-old and 11percent of aged people use health apps.
Urban cell phone owners are also
more likely than those who live in suburban or rural areas to have a mobile health
app on their phone.
Many consumers also have
health-related apps on their smartphones to get nutrition information, count
calories, calculate body mass index and learn new exercises, the survey found.
Localized Deal Updates
The
explosion of location-based technology was revolutionary in the app world. Now
we’re using that location information to deliver personalized and relevant
updates and alerts. The number of apps and services that support hyper-local
experiences is on the small side, but this is an area that is ripe for growth.
Location-based
services like Loopt, Foursquare and Gowalla are all
investigating ways to let users know not just when their friends are nearby,
but what offers are available in their areas.
Mobile Travel
Mobile technology has revolutionized the travel
industry: Countless travel apps have popped up, promising to enhance your
experience in foreign lands. There are lots of useful travel mobile apps helps
users to book the flights and also allows passengers to virtually "check
in" into airports using foursquare. Customers may also share their
experiences through other social networks.
Half of the airlines have already implemented
mobile services for flight search and check-in with close to half also
providing boarding passes, ticket purchase and flight
status notifications.
The latest Airline IT Trends
Survey reveals that a whopping 93% of airlines have mobile services for
passengers as a top investment priority over the next three years, with 58%
investing in major programmes. It predicts that information technology and
communications (IT&T) spend as a proportion of revenue is expected to stay
stable, at around 1.65% in 2012.
While only half the respondents,
made up of more than 50% of the world's top 100 airlines, expect IT spend in
2013 to increase in absolute terms.
Social
Media
Mobile social networking is social networking where individuals with similar
interests converse and connect with one another through their mobile phone
and/or tablet. Mobile Social Apps that can connect you to
twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Flickr together where you can post
status updates, share photos, videos, likes, retweets. For instance, the photo sharing apps that support the
widest range of share targets tend to be more popular. Even apps like Path — which
by design are meant to be private — have learned that it is essential to allow
users to post their data to other networks, like Facebook.
Mobile Commerce
The world is increasingly becoming mobile. The
technology creators of today are creating goods for the mobile consumer. The
concept of social commerce can be taken literally, as in making a purchase
directly through a social media property. Far more important is the degree to which content shared through
social media is influencing purchasing decisions, which is happening on a
massive scale. 33 million consumers shop with
a mobile phone according to research firm Experian Simmons. 24% of
U.S. adult online iPhone users and 21% of Android users have used a shopping application in the past
three months. (Source: Forrester, 2011)
The ways of communicating with your customers
is changing and businesses need to adapt to these changes in order to stay
ahead of their competitors.
Sources:http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/symantec-survey-shows-surge-in-mobile-apps-switching-it-focus/69999
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