TECH TRENDS
employees are using for work purposes . They ’ re not able to test those devices beforehand , make sure they have the right security features and functionalities and otherwise ensure that the devices can be sufficiently locked down .
Traditionally , the way to mitigate this problem was for IT to provide guidance and recommendations around the type of devices that employees could use , in conjunction with measures on the IT side that reinforced those recommendations . For example , any mobile devices that were at least five years old – and potentially had outdated , vulnerable firmware – wouldn ’ t be recommended and wouldn ’ t even be allowed to connect to the company network .
The problem that IT teams are dealing with today isn ’ t so much employees trying to use older , outdated devices as the sheer variety of devices . The world isn ’ t just Macs and Windows , or iPhones and Androids anymore – there are Chromebooks , Google Pixels and a host of other devices . That ’ s to say nothing of the scores of vendors making the printers and other endpoints that employees are now purchasing and connecting to their home network for work usage .
Mitigating endpoint risk
Since limiting purchases to an approved ‘ roster ’ of endpoints is no longer a practical approach , companies should focus instead on disseminating endpoint best practices to remote employees . These practices include keeping devices fully patched and up-to-date and not ignoring alerts that say the device needs to restart to run a security update . ( Sounds straightforward , but it ’ s very easy for busy professionals to ignore these alerts when they ’ re in the middle of the workday , flying from one task to the next ).
Companies may also wish to limit employee exposure to any rogue apps via the usage of an enterprise app store that only contains vetted and approved apps . This can help prevent employees from downloading a seemingly harmless app that is actually installing malware in the background and compromising their data .
Another method to reduce the threats on endpoints is through VPN ( virtual private network ) to ensure that communication remains secure outside of the office or outside of a secure home network . Additionally , Mobile Device www . intelligentcxo . com
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