There is no single tactic or strategy that guarantees success in improving the business alignment of security. Rather, there are always varied reasons but inter-related actions need to be identified and executed to improve alignment over time. Different techniques are suited to different businesses and corporate cultures.
There could be approximately five reasons to strengthen information security with app…
#1. Support flexibility at work and mobility
In today’s world people are moving towards a more free environment at work and they do not want to stick their desk all day. Mobility is vital for today’s workforce. Wherever people want to work from, they need access to apps and information, as well as share data, collaborate or join in meetings anyplace and at anytime. This strategy is also known as Flexwork which has become a key enterprise strategy as organizations move to different locations. Flexwork can include teleworking and desk-sharing programs or entire departments.
Centralized databases and application management and granular access control policies allow only authorized users to connect to enterprise resources. The IT team can grant access at a moment’s notice and modify or terminate the access just as quickly.
#2. Different devices connected to the network
Consumer devices like laptops or other technical devices purchased by the company and owned by individual employees, coupled with high speed internet on-the-go has greatly increased the ability of people to do their work in the most convenient and productive manner possible. Whether people bring their laptops or they use their tablets or smartphones while in transit, it becomes a very complicated matter for the IT department in terms of security. Different devices may have different security features or no security features installed at all; and some devices don’t support antivirus, personal firewalls or other legacy control measures. To protect business data, IT department needs to take steps to securely partition it from personal data, and App and Desktop virtualization technology frees IT from this daunting task at hand. It helps prevent data from residing on endpoints by centrally managing the data in a data center.
#3. Prevent Data Loss, Ensure Privacy and protect intellectual property
For optimal productivity and speed to market, organizations need to provide collaborative access to sensitive data and intellectual property across the value and supply chain. At the same time, the IT needs to make sure that business data is not harmed, prevent data loss, protect intellectual property, ensure data privacy and honor contractual commitments. Contractors, vendors and suppliers need to be given access to the business application and some of the data to smoothly run the business operations but it does not mean that they are to be given free access behind the firewalls to the sensitive data.
By centralizing the app, data and other resources, the IT can manage the apps and related data from a single location instead of it residing in thousands of different locations across the organization and beyond. Instead of worrying about data being saved on removable USBs, emailed among users, printed out or by any other means, IT can set policies to control such access that limits or inhibits user’s ability to save, copy, print or send it via any means possible.
#4. Maintaining Global Compliance
Compliance with national and international laws is both a rising burden and like a moving target. With little ability to control the distribution of sensitive data and a lack of session-specific location data, It has always struggled with compliance with cross-border laws. Sometimes it could also become overly restrictive for the organization to operate or applying lesser security controls might mean for the company not meeting their own security needs.
In such cases, granular policy controls enabled by app and desktop virtualization helps IT stop handling compliance and data privacy in a reactive manner and instead allows development of the right information security strategy for the organization’s industry and business needs and risk profiles.
#5. Empowering Contractors or temporary workers
Even though businesses need to hire contractors, temporary workers, consultants, outsourcing partners, offshore resources to increase flexibility and efficiency; it might also increase a challenge for IT: quickly and easily providing the resources these workers need and de-commissioning them just as swiftly and easily as they were enrolled. If they use personal devices, that could be a problem as well, though it means reduced cost for the company. In such cases and for smooth operations of the company to proceed, security and granular control policies are required by the company.