The Millennial Report: Are You Protecting Your Mobile Device?
Last week, I wrote a piece about a recent Lookout Mobile survey, which found that millennials are both the most informed group in regard to knowledge of mobile security and also the most likely to endanger themselves with reckless behavior. It got me thinking: How many of these activities of I guilty of? Almost all of them, it turns out.
Last week, I wrote a piece about a recent Lookout Mobile survey, which found that millennials are both the most informed group in regard to knowledge of mobile security and also the most likely to endanger themselves with reckless behavior. It got me thinking: How many of these activities of I guilty of? Almost all of them, it turns out.
For years I failed to set up a lock screen for my phone, and until recently I hadn’t even considered the dangers of connecting to public Wi-Fi networks or even charging my phone at a public access terminal while at the airport. And while naivety was to blame for at least some of these discrepancies, I have to admit I’ve often put my personal information at risk due to sheer laziness or the oft-referenced feeling of “it could never happen to me” when it comes to a major breach of my privacy.
So how many other millennials are in the same boat as me, drifting somewhere between a lack of initiative to protect themselves and a general sense of invincibility when it comes to online interactions? A lot, if I were to guess. Just this weekend alone I saw at least a half-dozen people my age charging their cell phones at an airport charging station, and countless others connecting to unprotected Wi-Fi networks to browse the web or watch YouTube videos—myself included. The scary part is, it’s not that we don’t know the risks associated with these types of actions; in many cases, we’re willing to take a chance rather than put down our devices for a few moments.
So will we ever collectively learn our lesson and start being smarter about how and where we connect with our devices? The short answer is no. However, there are certain things you can do to encourage young employees to think more carefully about how they use their smartphones and tablets, especially in relation to devices that contain important enterprise information.
First off, sit your employees down and give them some real-life examples of the dangers associated with reckless online behavior—a quick Google search is bound to uncover more horror stories than you’ll know what to do with. Giving your employees something to visualize not only will help them to understand the gravity of their situation, but might also make them think twice the next time they feel like downloading a suspicious app or connecting to public Wi-Fi at Starbucks.
Another alternative is to install and actively manage some kind of mobile security solution for your workers. Whether you choose an app containerization solution or another type of enterprise mobility management service, it’s essential to have some kind of protection in place to keep personal information from mixing with corporate data.
And finally, take the time to seek out training classes and other educational resources to help your employees be proactive in learning to protect themselves and their information. Even though your millennial workers might think they know all about how to protect themselves, it’s important to stay informed of the issues and to learn about mobile security from the experts.
Just remember: Knowledge may be power, but all the knowledge in the world doesn’t count for much unless it’s acted upon. You might not be able to eliminate risky behavior completely, but you can certainly limit it to protect your employees’ personal information and your corporate assets.
Most recently, a lot of
Most recently, a lot of established companies like Snapchat, Starbucks, Target, Home Depot, etc. have been through a PR disaster. The fact is that nobody really thinks about mobile security or data privacy when buying a coffee at Starbucks or while playing Angry Birds. In the rare case that someone even thinks about security, consumers always believe that developers would have taken care of it. They think that the app is from a reputable company and obviously what could possibly go wrong.
This is why it is important for companies and developers to be more proactive rather than reactive when it comes to mobile application security. It is important to retain consumer trust if you want to stay in this game for long.
We at Appknox offer peace of mind to brand owners and the developers who create and maintain apps by doing regular security audits of their work, and alerting them to new vulnerabilities as they arise.
What’s nice about security is
What’s nice about security is that it is often integrated with other software that you would need to purchase anyway. The example I’m thinking of is with Mobile Device Management. For businesses, of pretty much any size, that distribute tech devices, MDMs are basically a necessity in today’s world. Unless you want to be doing the same step 50 times to each individual iPad, you’re going to want a simpler solution. Most of these solutions also understand that companies need security and threat prevention as well, so they package the two together in what a lot call EMM, or Enterprise Mobility Management. Now, almost any MDM has security features; JAMF Software, Good Technologies, and even Bushel, one of the first MDMs for small-medium businesses, all have features to help you sleep at night.
I just thought I would mention this when I saw you had said the software aspect was “another alternative”. While I respect the options you give, I think modernizing how security is handled is more than an alternative, at least to be a successful business in the world today.