In This Mobile Era, Securing Remote Workers is Critical

Long gone are the days when the entire office staff reported to their assigned desks at 9 a.m. Also long gone are the days when the IT manager could set up just a company phone system. Back in the days of yore, I set up several IT departments and managed others. One of the biggest problems that I had to deal with, back in the day, was this new-fangled technology called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Also fading away into history is the fact that when you visit a client you had to carry everything with you or load all the data on your laptop. You needed all of the information on hand to show the client. Today we see the proliferation of bring your own device (BYOD) and the ability to work from anywhere except your office. Mobilization has taken hold and the virtual office is where you conduct business.

While this does have benefits for both sides, it also creates new problems. For employers, home and remote working can help cut office costs. It also has the added benefit of reducing sick days, and work can still be accomplished when bad weather and transportation problems make traveling difficult.

These days it is not enough to have a secure network and an intelligent phone system that can tie in to the network. With employees using BYOD, the company needs a way to tie everything together. This brings up an entirely new set of concerns.

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According to the latest census taken by the U.S. Census Bureau, about 13.4 million people work from home. While the ability to work from anywhere at any given time has enabled companies to hire and keep their best employees regardless of where they live, it does have some drawbacks. How do you keep remote workers secure?

The chances are very good that even if an employee is working from home they are using their smartphones when calling the office and using their tablets to download the information that they need. There has also been a surge of companies that have created software that will tie smartphone options such as texting and instant messaging with the company phone system.

Your office phone can be connected to your mobile device so that if someone calls your office number it will be re-routed to your smartphone. The same can also be set up in reverse. You can have your mobile phone calls routed to your office number. In addition your office calendar can be synced with your mobile device so that any changes made by anyone at the office will immediately be available to you.

These are all benefits, but they do come at a cost. You now have to make sure that all of these new options and features are as secure as possible. Studies show that remote workers engage in several behaviors that put company data at risk. Some of the risks include:

• Transferring files from a work device to a home or mobile device;
• Using personal communications on a work device that does not meet security standards;
• Malware on your mobile device could find its way into the company data.

Another security risk is the use of unsecured Wi-Fi. This can be found at airports, coffee shops and hotels. Add to that the rise of cloud-based applications that give employees access to critical data without connecting back to the corporate office.

The problem with cloud-based applications is that you are not going through any enterprise firewalls. Cloud computing can save the cost of additional equipment and management, but as the lines between when, where and how work gets done continue to blur and IT continues to lose visibility and control, security risks increase.

One solution that companies need to pay attention to is Mobile Device Management (MDM). This is software that monitors, secures, manages and supports mobile devices deployed across mobile operators, service providers and enterprises.

MDM functionality typically includes over-the-air distribution of applications, data and configuration settings for all types of mobile devices. This applies to both company and employee owned BYOD devices across the enterprise. MDM is seen as a solution for managing these devices in the workplace.

The primary challenge is the ability to manage the risks associated with mobile access to data and at the same time securing mobile devices. As the BYOD approach becomes more popular across mobile service providers, MDM is a way for corporations to provide their employees with access to the internal networks using a mobile device of their choice. In turn, these devices are managed remotely with minimal disruption to employees' schedules.

One thing that will never disappear from the workspace, whether it is in a physical office or any remote location, is the need for communication. Choosing your business phone system is important. It is a big part of how all this works together correctly. A great deal of making it work correctly is keeping all of the company’s remote devices secure.

It is important to choose the right services. It is also important to create policies and guidelines. One problem is that BYOD is still such a new concept that most enterprises have not created any kind of company policy on how they should be used. This is something that needs to be addressed in order to keep everything that happens from a remote worker secure.