The Importance of Mobile Device Management - ThreatAdvice
Information technology teams in many organizations are tasked to ensure both privately owned and company devices are properly secured. Many organizations have policies regarding the use of personal devices and requirements regarding proper security. It’s crucial for all non-technical employees to understand the significance of mobile device security. For this reason, information technology teams and organization executives should implement mobile device management (MDM) to protect confidential customer information.
MDM is a software that allows IT administrators to secure and enforce policies on endpoint devices including smartphones, tablets, and laptops. MDM helps optimize security on any device that could potentially house sensitive data.
How does MDM work?
Mobile device management is made up of an endpoint software called an MDM agent and an MDM server that resides in the data center or in the cloud. IT administrators then form policies through the MDM server’s management console. The server then moves those policies to the MDM agent on the device. This allows IT administrators to implement security updates and policies directly to operating systems of all company devices.
Bring your own device MDM
The launch of the smartphone created new opportunities to mobilize data. Many organizations have now been prompted to implement bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies. IT professionals should ensure that all users who participate in BYOD abide by MDM requirements. IT administrators must also use privacy settings to prevent their teams from abusing MDM capabilities to track users.
Features of MDM
Mobile device management solutions and services have become a commodity for security vendors. Many offer a similar set of core capabilities. Mobile device management vendor differentiation comes by integrating MDM servers with other enterprise software.
Some of the most common MDM features include:
• Device inventory and tracking
• App distribution
• Password enforcement
• Data encryption enforcement
Summary:
It’s crucial for all non-technical employees to understand the significance of mobile device security. For this reason, information technology teams and organization executives should implement mobile device management (MDM) to protect confidential customer information. MDM is a software that allows IT administrators to secure and enforce policies on endpoint devices including smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Mobile device management is made up of an endpoint software called an MDM agent and an MDM server that resides in the data center or in the cloud. IT professionals should ensure that all users who participate in BYOD abide by MDM requirements.
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