Mobile Security: the Essential Ingredient for Today's Work Styles

Local Authorities nationwide have clearly understood the role of wireless communication technologies over the last few years, implementing innovative projects to improve services and lower costs.

These projects often include existing software and technology solutions to help mitigate security risks and safeguard organizations from threats, but increasingly managers and end users are finding these solutions inhibit the productivity promise and ROI of projects.

The problem in today's economic climate is that IT environments are lean. A solution needs to offer ease of use and also be low cost to deploy and maintain. Additionally operational line managers are recognising that they cannot abdicate responsibility for security to IT - they need to ensure the necessary safeguards are in place for workflows that they are responsible for.

This paper reviews the current mobile security landscape, including a couple of misconceptions surrounding the risks and threats, and some experiences from local government deployments in the UK on how organisations can establish an enhanced mobile security strategy.

According to new analysis from industry analysts, Frost & Sullivan, emerging wireless technologies offer increased promise in enhancing the standard of public sector communications. They believe that internet-based (so-called IP) communications is one of the most significant drivers of wireless broadband. Besides its ability to connect disparate wireless systems, the IP platform also enables upcoming future technologies to be incorporated as and when required, without getting stuck with a single wireless supplier.

Developments during the next three to six years are anticipated to be crucial for wireless broadband technologies. Analogue television spectrum is anticipated to be cleared and auctioned off for mobile broadband operators. While wireless connectivity provides greater flexibility and near-ubiquitous coverage, security is still an amber-light issue for many deployments, posing a major risk or even a roadblock to wider adoption.

Why is that? Wireless communications are still prone to interception and security breaches, especially when the efficiencies offered by the broader range of wireless options beyond cellular from a single supplier are being considered. Apart from this, the need to integrate high standards of resilience and on-the-move applications mobility adds to the potential for complexity of wireless broadband deployment.

Increasingly organisations are accepting that a virtual private network or VPN is essential to remote and mobile working to safeguard all data when in transit, with mobile and remote working being available to more users  - on commuter trains, private homes and service stations on the motorway network.

The introduction of flexible working practices allows employees to log on to company networks and files from just about anywhere and at any time. Data from the Office of National Statistics 2007 states that more than 3.4 million (12%) of the UK population regularly or permanently work from home.

However, whether in a business or at home, broadband is less secure than traditional dedicated dial-up and leased line connection and the 'always on' element traversing the public network could equally be seen  as 'always vulnerable'. It is business-critical that security over any network type is in place without burdening the end user with unnecessary tasks.

The typical steps local authorities we speak to undertake when implementing secure mobile and  remote can be outlined in three steps: