Secure Mobility—the new must for IT infrastructures
The realities of today’s BYOD environment and the dramatic increase in worker mobility are having a huge impact on corporate IT—forcing organizations to figure out how best to support it all efficiently and cost effectively.
Companies have made a huge investment in network and security infrastructures to provide employees with remote connectivity. While VPNs used to constitute a big part of this investment—enabling laptops to become the mobility devices of choice—this has changed with the increasing dominance of smartphones and tablets.
The challenge today is how to keep up with the rapid changes brought about by the mobile explosion, while maintaining control over a network infrastructure that keeps extending every time a new mobile device is added to the mix. And with cybersecurity threats increasing by the day, how does corporate IT ensure security when more and more people are working remotely and with their own mobile devices?
With the need for companies to adapt quickly to the proliferation of new mobile platforms, Strategy Analytics, a research and strategy analytics firm specializing in emerging technologies, predicts that the enterprise mobility management market will grow exponentially to $3.2 billion by 2020.
Specifically, companies are looking for mobile management solutions that provide users with:
- Easy access to applications and data
- A secure environment, where endpoints are protected from threats and corporate access policies are enforced
- The flexibility to use any device—laptop, smartphone or tablet—they choose
The Cisco AnyConnect Security Mobility Solution
Cisco has developed a solution that allows employees to work from anywhere—on corporate laptops as well as personal mobile devices—with the necessary security to ensure that an organization’s data is safe and protected.
Cisco AnyConnect is a unified agent that delivers multiple security services. It provides the visibility and control needed to identify who and what is accessing the extended enterprise—before, during and after an attack. It also offers a comprehensive endpoint security platform, providing VPN access through Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and IPsec IKEv2 as well as enhanced security through various built-in modules.
AnyConnect is available across a broad set of platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Google Chrome—giving users a myriad choice of devices they can use.
The first level of protection against device loss
Losing a smartphone or tablet—or having a device stolen—can be devastating to the person who owns it. But the operational challenges and potential legal ramifications are much worse for the user’s employer. For example, the loss and potential misuse of the sensitive data stored on the device—and the potential for the device to be used to gain access to critical business information—can end up costing the company thousands, if not millions, of dollars on measures to mitigate the potential risks.
Security policy enforcement
To provide a first level of protection if a mobile device is lost, Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Solution supports the use of digital certificates, which can be revoked immediately when a device is lost to deny access to the network. And the ability to establish policies like PIN lock and device encryption also help secure a device and reduce any potential risks.
With AnyConnect’s broad device support for a variety of brands of laptops, smartphones and tablets, secure policy enforcement can be easily implemented and always on.
What this all means for you
Mobility is here to stay. Now it’s up to your IT department to figure out the best way to enforce security while giving users flexibility in the mobile devices they can use.
With solutions like Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility, you can leverage your existing infrastructure and processes while providing access to anyone, at any time, from any device.
Let us help implement secure mobility within your organization. Talk to us at Next Dimensions about the next steps you need to take.