The workforce of the future will be more mobile than ever. By 2020, 40% of the global workforce will be mobile. In the U.S. and Europe, that number will soar to 75%. The changing composition of the modern workforce accelerates the need for mobile security. Mobile workers will be remotely accessing corporate data from multiple devices, presenting serious security risks for their businesses.
Those risks are real. Just turn on the nightly news. More than 4,000 ransomware attacks have occurred every day since the beginning of 2016, a 300% increase over 2015. Back then, there were only 1,000 ransomware attacks per day. The trend is alarming.
To that end, iPass recently surveyed more than 500 organizations, seeking to understand their top security concerns. The resulting iPass Mobile Security Report 2017 paints a sobering picture. The headline: an overwhelming majority (93%) of businesses are concerned about the security challenges posed by their growing mobile workforce.
Drilling down a bit, we also learned that 40% of businesses believe that C-level executives, including the CEO, are the employees most at risk of being hacked. But although executives are the most likely to be hacked, and make the news when they do, the hacking risk is high for all employees who work on the go. That’s quickly becoming most of us.
As a result, companies are taking some pretty radical steps to ensure enterprise security. For instance, more than two-thirds of organizations (68%) ban employees from using free, public Wi-Fi hotspots to some extent, a near 10% increase from 2016. And a third of companies are banning employee use of free, public Wi-Fi in all cases, a whopping 50% increase from 2016.
Our research also demonstrated which attacks were of most concern to corporate security officers. Man-in-the-middle attacks came out first. 69% of organizations were concerned about the attacks, whereby an attacker can secretly relay and even alter communications without the mobile users’ knowledge when their employees use public Wi-Fi. Moreover, businesses also viewed lack of encryption (63%), unpatched operating systems (55%) and hotspot spoofing (58%) as other possible threats.
Rather than just giving in whole hog to security threats, as serious as they are, by implementing oft-unenforceable and unrealistic bans, we think businesses need to ensure that their mobile workers have the right tools to get online and work securely at all times. Here are some simple ways companies can provide maximum connectivity while still securing the enterprise:
- Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network). A VPN allows you to route all of your online activity through a secure, private network. It’s essentially a tunnel that gives you the security of a private connection even if you’re on free Wi-Fi.
- Make sure all devices are password-protected. A strong password will provide essential protection. Make sure to use a pin that’s easy to remember but has a mixture of letters and numbers, which can’t easily be guessed by others.
- Update software regularly. It may seem like an insignificant step for you to take, but often, software developers release security upgrades that fix flaws within the system by addressing known vulnerabilities on smartphones, tablets, and computers.
- Steer clear of free, public Wi-Fi. Free, public Wi-Fi is open and completely insecure, making it a great target for hackers. Although we probably can’t fully avoid public Wi-Fi, we can certainly make sure to never transmit sensitive information over free Wi-Fi networks, commonly located at airports, hotels, and cafes.
- Educate your employees. Most importantly, educate your employees on the steps they can take to better secure their personal information and company data.
Mobile is now. And the workforce of the future will only get even more mobile than it is today. Only the businesses that provide their employees with simple and safe ways to connect will thrive in the age of mobile.
