Mobile Data Management Policy

IT Pro put together a great feature on how to create a mobile data management policy. With the increase in smartphones into the marketplace, more employees will be looking for a way to use this convenient mobile technology for work. But that poses challenges for security that businesses must address. So, when it comes to mobile technology (from smartphones to laptops), having a security policy in place is of vital importance to data security.

Your security policy should be generic enough to be easily understood and followed by all employees. An audit of what kinds of devices are currently in use (and what information they’re accessing) is the first step to understanding what kind of security policy you need. The audit will also reveal the operating systems that your mobility security suite will need to manage. After that, you can expect your security policy to include things such as:

• What to do if a device is lost
• Incentives for people to report lost devices quickly
• Which devices can connect to office equipment / data, and which cannot
• What type of data can be accessed
• Support VPNs for mobile devices
• A procedure in place to wipe data off of lost devices
• Secure disposal procedures for old devices
• Allowance for users to register their own devices, if they are wiped when an employee leaves the company
• What applications can and can’t be installed
• Using strong passwords and encryption

A way that you can easily manage smartphones and follow these tips is by using Computrace Mobile. As part of the Computrace suite of products, it uses the same Computrace Agent that lets you inventory your mobile population, and it offers remote data delete capabilities. You can find out more about it here.

An effective mobile security policy will balance the benefits of productivity with costs and data security needs. You can read more great tips here.

image: dpawatts @morguefile Tags: mobile data, mobile security, it security, security policy, it security policy, business security, laptop security