Mobile Device Security: 5 risks you need to pay attention to

In this hybrid work era, many organizations adopted methods that would allow and enhance remote collaboration. Such methods also understood as Bring your own device (BYOD) allowed employees to adapt their devices for organizational affairs. This effective method for working at any time or place meant another factor to pay attention to security risks. However, a way of ensuring your organization’s integrity is by managing correctly enrolled devices with the proper mobile device security. 

Risks of Enrolled Mobile Devices without Mobile Device Security

Enrolling mobile devices without a strong and reliable system can expose and compromise your organization’s data, leaving it exposed to many kinds of cyberattacks.

Here we present 5 risks organizations should be aware of.

1. Connected to the internet, devices and your organization’s data may be exposed to unsafe networks.Since your employees are able to connect to any network, even those which are not safe, your organizational data, such as credentials and other sensitive IP, can be at risk of disclosure. 
2. Unsafe apps with little protection. The same way networks can expose sensitive organizational data, there may be apps that can do so as well. These kinds of apps can be an easy target for hackers. 
3. Unattended application updates. App updates are often overlooked, leaving loopholes that may present a security risk.
4. Device hacking, loss, or theft. Most devices are small and easy to carry, meaning that they can be lost or worse, stolen with ease. In 2017, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange was targeted by a hacker for the third time in three years, stealing nearly $20,000,000USD.  
5. Unclear security protocols and no Mobile Device Management. The lack of an MDM or Mobile Application Management (MAM) plan can have catastrophic results, leaving your IT department losing control of the devices and the content that resides on it.