Today’s Mobile Threat Landscape

Corrata mobile defense whitepaper

Unusually for such a world-changing event, we can pinpoint the exact moment when the smartphone revolution began.  It was at 9:47 am Pacific Standard Time on 9 January 2007 that Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone.  To industry vendors such as Nokia or Blackberry, the fact that it didn’t have 3G radio meant that it wasn’t really a smartphone at all. But for Apple fanboys, it was the moment they had long been waiting for.

Smartphone Revolution

Today it is clear that the product launched that day has profoundly altered the very fabric of day-to-day life in a thousand ways.  Its created Uber and countless other parts of the ‘on- demand economy.’  It has played a critical role in political revolutions (the Arab Spring and Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement) and revolutionized dating (think Tinder).  Its accelerated the pace of business and created the 24-hour news cycle. Unquestionably, because of the smartphone, we have become the first generation in human history to live 24×7 always-on, always connected lives.

The impact on our work experience has been no less profound.  It started with email: how did we ever survive without our inbox at our fingertips.  It extended to the full range of digital workplace tools including calendaring, conferencing and file sharing.  Now it is being used to re-shape the way business is conducted from kiosk-based banking to on-site invoicing, to on-demand logistics.  Today we live in the era of mission-critical mobile.

Security Challenges

But how well are organizations prepared for the mobile threat security challenges that this era presents?  Today, Corrata launches a new report to answer this question and to provide guidance on the critical threats and vulnerabilities that we face today and into the future.

In the ten years since the launch of the iPhone, we have learned much about ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of information stored and processed on mobile devices.  Apple,  Google and EMM vendors have done much to make mobile devices appropriate for use in enterprise environments.  It’s clear that the architecture of both Android and iOS have helped avoid many of the security issues which have plagued Windows.  Both Apple and Google have shown themselves committed to addressing security issues in a timely fashion.   The app store software distribution model is another major security enhancement.

Mobile Security Whitepaper

Nonetheless, it would be complacent not to recognize that there are elements inherent to enterprise mobility that pose challenges from a mobile threat security perspective.  Mobile phones and tablets lack the protection offered by firewalls, web gateways and other traditional security systems.   Public WiFi networks are inherently insecure, exposing devices to a new set of risks.  And lack of visibility of device behavior makes it extremely difficult to identify when devices have been compromised.

 

Corrata’s whitepaper examines the implications of these mobile threat factors and outlines steps that organizations can take to protect their data from the risks they pose.

Read Whitepaper.

Related Resources

Related Resources

Read the latest news on enterprise mobile security direct from the specialists.

Read the latest news on enterprise mobile security direct from the specialists.