Are Your Employees Smartphones Safe for Business?
Business owners are already aware of the importance of protecting their assets.
Cybersecurity, however, is often over-simplified to terms of on-site tech in the workplace. Smartphone security commonly goes missed.
Some small and medium business owners, in particular, think that it’s less likely to fall prey to hackers at low-profile organizations. According to Verizon’s 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report, however, 43% of data breaches involved small business owners as a product of lax security.
Business smartphones—whether belonging to an employee or the company—merit special security to keep data safe. Here are the six steps to do just that.
1. Use Antivirus or Antitheft Software
We carry our worlds in our mobile phones. If you want to protect your cell phone, then buy antivirus software that provides full protection. There are free antivirus apps available on the internet but they do not work efficiently.
We carry our worlds in our mobile phones. If you want to protect your cell phone, then buy antivirus software that provides full protection. There are free antivirus apps available on the internet but they do not work efficiently.
2. Do Not Open Random Links
Random links on your social media or text messages can be fraudulent. They may contain a virus that seizes the entire system and extort money in exchange for control.
3. Keep A Check On Privacy Settings
The best way to protect your cellphone is to customize the privacy setting according to your needs. There are settings in every app and browser that allows you to keep your data private. Do not share information that might be risky.
4. Update your OS and apps right away
Most of us are guilty of postponing (or ignoring) systems updates. Reverse this habit immediately. Most of the updates made to OS and apps are to patch vulnerabilities, so the most recent version of the system will be the most secure.
5. Always lock your home screen
Locking your home screen is one of the fundamental ways to keep your information private and your device secure. Ensure the phone settings automatically lock your screen after your device is unused for a set number of seconds.
6. Use two-factor authentication
Don’t let the tediousness discourage you—adding two-factor authentication on smartphones is an essential business practice today. This can include passwords and biometric readings such as fingerprints.
7. Use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wisely
Most of us jump onto a free public Wi-Fi connection without a second thought. If you’re carrying sensitive information in your smartphone, though, exercise greater caution. It’s also best to disable Bluetooth whenever you’re not using it. If you can’t avoid using public Wi-Fi be sure to subscribe to a VPN encryption service.
8. Manage your app permissions
Check each of the apps on your phone and decide what privileges they have. For example, you can grant permission to access your location only when the app is in use. Permissions to camera and microphone access are personalizable, too.
9. Back up your data often
We can’t prepare for all the bad stuff that can happen, but we can easily save our data on a regular basis to minimize the impact of the bad stuff when it does occur.