How Secure Is Your Business?

Our world today is not just connected – it’s hyper-connected. Gartner reports that 8.4 billion connected objects will be used worldwide in 2017, up by 31 percent from 2016, and is to reach 20.4 billion by 2020. India is no different. According to Deloitte, there will be approximately 1.9 billion connected devices in the country by 2020.

It is safe to say that we are ushering in a new era – a digital era. While the numbers are encouraging, connectivity comes with an incredible level of risk and vulnerability and there are numerous high-profile incidents relating to theft of intellectual property and customer databases. Moreover, technology is disrupting how we used to live, work or even communicate. Hackers are developing sophisticated tools to penetrate security measures and are targeting government, individuals and enterprises for financial or political gain.

Just look at what happened with ‘WannaCry’, reportedly one of the worst malware attacks in history. It has affected thousands of computers in 150 countries, targeting not just small businesses but large infrastructure, including the UK’s National Healthcare System (NHS), with huge consequences. Security is no longer just about protecting our data - it’s about protecting our health, our safety and our well-being. Thousands of innocent patients were affected by the attack, ranging from diverted ambulances to canceled open heart surgeries.

A robust security strategy, with solutions that are as effective as they are easy to use, will continue to be of paramount importance for organizations and governments.

Enterprise Mobility and Security

It is inevitable that many businesses allow employees to use their own devices at work, but it is equally important to know how the company’s data is being shared or accessed – and by whom. According to a report released by BlackBerry and CMR in 2014, 42% of Indian enterprises have a BYOD policy, meaning millions of businesses in this country are vulnerable to data leaks and loss of intellectual property. These threats happen in the absence of appropriate systems and solutions, or if the company is trusting its employees to secure their own devices and data. The need for embedded security increases as mobile end-points store more and more applications and critical data.

Organisations need to realise that secure communication is not just for its employees, but also for the extended enterprise – which means your suppliers, contractors, business partners and clients. This requires secure, centralized management of mobile apps and services, such as file-sync-and-share, that can ensure the safe delivery of a company’s files, designs, customer databases and other intellectual property.

There are other factors that impact the success of a company’s mobile investment. For instance, a native mobile experience that is easy to use and deploy is important, especially when scaling to large numbers of employees. Both the user interface and the app’s performance are important. Failure in one offsets any amount of success in the other. The other factor is just being easy to deploy and simple to use and on-board staff.

Securing Everything in the Enterprise of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is redefining how we live and the way we do business. While staying connected is the new norm for consumers, behind the scenes IoT is significantly transforming product development, manufacturing, supply chain management, logistics, marketing, sales, analytics and of course, the increasingly mobile workforce. Referred to by BlackBerry as the ‘Enterprise of Things’ (EoT), this is transforming how enterprises develop, market, distribute and sell products.

These expanding connections are exponentially accelerating our vulnerability. Data breaches and cybersecurity threats are some of the biggest roadblocks to realizing the greatest potential of the Enterprise of Things, and businesses must be able to confidentially and reliably transmit sensitive data between endpoints to keep people, information and goods safe.

This is where BlackBerry can help. Market demand for security is shifting from the network of computers to the network of endpoints. As traditional security software players are scrambling to fill this gap, BlackBerry is uniquely qualified to address this emerging market.

The company is taking a holistic approach to offer everything from crisis communications to collaboration to unified endpoint management (UEM). BlackBerry UEM is a comprehensive mobile security cloud-enabled platform which secures the entire enterprise from endpoint to endpoint, making the Enterprise of Things a reality. The platform takes a mobile-native approach to security which is critical in today’s environment when data is always on the move.

Industry experts believe that mobile end points will become increasingly attractive targets for cyber criminals. Organizations that fail to safeguard their digital assets face severe consequences, including operational disruptions, financial losses, lawsuits, regulatory fines and irreparable damage to reputation and competitive standing. Therefore, in this digital world, enterprise security is continuously evolving and undergoing major transformation. Enterprises will need to move beyond short-term solutions to adopt a secure, comprehensive security solutions to safeguard their data and future.

Narendra Nayak
MD, BlackBerry India