By Rick Dastin, president, Office and Solutions Business Group, Xerox
Any device connected to the Internet – an iPad, a computer, even an MRI machine – has the potential for a security vulnerability. That’s because these devices all have operating systems and hackers can possibly get inside and cause damage to the device or the surrounding network environment. Businesses are well aware of this with PCs, servers and computer networks, but not necessarily with devices with embedded firmware such as printers and mobile technologies. Yet, as all of us use more mobile technology, information access points and the resultant vulnerability may increase.
Some business leaders acknowledge this challenge and deal with it appropriately. It worries me though, after talking with CIOs across the country, how some are not fully aware of the vulnerabilities and view some mobile security elements as optional. They think it’s going to be difficult or expensive and seem to worry more about the difficulties than about the cost of a security breach. How can they feel that way when information is the most sacred thing in business?
Maybe it’s because in the past, companies had separate network and security management systems and organizations that manage them. It was swivel-chair management, turning from one console to the next, or worse, one organization to the next because the integrated tools were not available to manage both the network and security together. Security doesn’t get more inefficient or painful than that.
For CIOs to embrace mobile and embedded device security to the level that is required, I agree that solutions have to be convenient and integrated. We have to provide device safeguards and keep information secure as it moves between systems. This next-generation thinking is what drove partnerships with McAfee and Cisco on a new platform we call ConnectKey. This video explains more about how it works:
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Read more from Rick Dastin in the latest edition of Chief Optimist Magazine – Security by clicking here.
