Personal computing is with us wherever we go. Thanks to the rise of the mobile industry, smartphones and tablets allow us to take work home with us. And with the bring your own device (BYOD) strategy, businesses have never been so productive. However, BYOD can pose a number of security risks if you’re not careful. Here are some BYOD security issues you should know before implementing it.

Data leakage

The biggest reason businesses are wary of implementing a BYOD strategy is because it can leave the company’s system vulnerable to data breaches. Personal devices are not part of your business’s IT infrastructure, which means that these devices are not protected by company firewalls and security systems.

Employees might also take work with them to places outside of your company premises that don’t have adequate security settings, thus leaving your system vulnerable to inherent security risks.

Lost devices

Another risk your company has to deal with is the possibility that employees will lose their personal devices. If devices with sensitive business information get lost and fall into the wrong hands, anyone can gain unauthorized access to valuable company data stored in that particular device. Therefore, you should consider countermeasures and protocols for lost devices, like remotely wiping a device of information as soon as an employee reports it missing or stolen.

Possible hacking

Personal devices tend to lack adequate data encryption to keep other people from snooping on private information. On top of this, your employees might not regularly update their devices’ software, rendering their devices and your IT infrastructure susceptible to infiltration.

Connecting to open WiFi spots in public places also makes your company vulnerable and open to hackers, because hackers may have created those hotspots to trick people into connecting. Once the device owner has connected to a malicious hotspot, attackers can see your web activity, usernames, and passwords in plain text

Vulnerability to malware

Viruses are also a big problem when implementing BYOD strategies. If your employees use their personal devices, they can access sites or download mobile apps that your business would normally restrict to protect your system.

As your employees have the freedom to choose whatever device they want to work with, the process of keeping track of vulnerabilities and updates is considerably harder. So if you’re thinking about implementing BYOD strategies, make sure your IT department is prepared for an array of potential malware attacks on different devices.

BYOD will help your business grow, but it comes with IT security risks that you should be prepared to handle.
Need help mitigating these BYOD risks? Call us today, and let’s find the best IT security solutions for your company.

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Online blogs and forums mostly cover networks and the cloud when it comes to cybersecurity, leaving other types of technology -- particularly virtualization -- overlooked and unsecured. If you don’t have the right defense plans in place, your business will be vulnerable to all types of cyberthreats. Here are some of the major risks of insufficient virtualization security and some methods to prevent them.

Security risks of virtualization

Complex infrastructure – Much like virtualization itself, the infrastructure of a virtualization solution can oftentimes be confusing to small businesses. In fact, the complex configuration alone can be a big headache for it’s more difficult to spot anomalies and unusual events happening in your virtual machines and network.
Dynamic design – Virtualized environments are dynamic by nature and constantly changing. Unlike adding physical equipment, the addition of virtual machines can go almost completely unnoticed as they’re created in a matter of minutes and aren’t visible in your workspace. The danger here is the age old adage, “out of sight out of mind.” And if you add too many, they can easily become difficult to manage and protect, creating security holes in the process.
Quick moving workloads – As your virtualized infrastructure grows, there will come a time when you need to move data from one machine to another. While this may sound harmless, the real issue is that your virtual machines will likely require different levels of security. And when you’re juggling multiple workloads over multiple virtual machines, you may accidentally move mission critical data to a machine that has minimal protection.

How to mitigate risks

While these three risks may sound alarming, they can all be mitigated. The key behind effectively securing your virtual machines all comes down to process. Put some thought into your security processes and then implement them. Here are a few areas to cover:

• Organization – Decide how and where to separate your test, development, and production virtual machines.
• Audit – Develop a system to regularly audit your virtual machine security. Whenever possible, use tools to automate your security checks, balances, and processes.
• Patches – Perform regular security maintenance to ensure the patches are up-to-date for all virtual machines.
• Overflow management – Create a system to monitor all your virtual machines, identify what each of them is used for, and manage them accordingly.
• Responsibility – Designate an IT technician to watch over your virtual machines to ensure zero security gaps.If you prioritize proper management of your virtual machines, security doesn’t have to be an issue. Get in touch with us if you’re interested in getting additional assistance for your virtualized infrastructure or if you’re planning to implement a new virtualization solution. Call us today!

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