Mobile Device Management: Balancing Business Agility and its Risk

Mobile device management continues to be a hot topic, and security executives need to educate business executives on the capabilities around mobility and security of mobility.

As the proliferation of mobile devices continues to grow, organizations must focus on the business need and how the use of mobile devices solves problems from a business perspective.

Role-based access on mobile devices continues to be an issue. Organizations are challenged with implementing BYOD programs that support both employee and guest access. In implementing BYOD programs, organizations should also include end-user agreements. This can be difficult, however, for non-employees, vendors, clients and other guests. Because of issues surrounding investigations around the device, such individuals must sign the agreement themselves.

In addition to the security of the device, as well as legal and HR issues, mobile device management presents telco-management issues related to carriers and data plans.

Mobile device management is increasingly perceived as a data protection issue. The general consensus is that because you can't completely protect the application or the device itself, you need to protect the data.

The hacking into apps is a growing security concern that is driving organizations to develop corporate apps. Security executives need to implement lifecycle management and vulnerability assessments around the creation of applications for the corporation. One best practice is to start small with a limited number of applications and devices and grow over time.