The Importance of Updating Personal Devices
Let’s say a client, customer, or vendor emails you something confidential. Let’s even say that email includes personally identifiable information (PII) such as a social security number (hopefully it doesn’t). What happens when you receive that email? Well, the email is stored on your email server (generally in the cloud), and copies of that email are also downloaded to your email client (probably Outlook) as well as any mobile devices or tablets where you’ve added your email. If you have any email clients set up on personal computers (such as Outlook on a home/personal computer) a copy of that data would be instantly downloaded there as well. Are all of these various devices up to date? Is this information safe on each of these devices? What are you doing to protect this information? These are all questions you should be considering.
Now think about all your team members and all their personal devices. What are your colleagues doing to protect the sensitive data they almost certainly have on these devices? Data which your organization is ultimately responsible for protecting and safeguarding. What are you and your organization doing to ensure everyone on your team is aware of this concern and are working on a regular basis to address it?
Today, working from home is an everyday occurrence, so it’s more important than ever to make sure your networks (both at the office and at home) and all the various personal devices your business relies upon and stores information on are up to date and secure. Some of the necessary steps are as simple as making sure iOS and Android updates are installed. Is this something all your employees are doing? Sometimes employees or team members have out of date devices that no longer support the latest updates. What is your organization's policy on those devices?
We understand this post asks more questions than it provides answers, but that’s kind of the point. If you haven’t already worked with us to think through these questions, establish personal devices policies and best practices, and to implement the necessary tools and safeguards to properly address these concerns, please reach out to our team. We’d love to help you work through and consider all these challenges and help better prepare your organization for today’s work environment and threat landscape.
With Security in Mind,
The EON Team