How MDM Enables Companies to Meet Regulators’ Guidelines for Mobile Security
State regulators recently came together to announce new guidance for cybersecurity aimed at the financial services industry. In a similar push to encourage investment firms to proactively address cybersecurity threats, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) released Cybersecurity and Resiliency Observations new observations.
Whether or not your organization is part of the financial services industry, you may be surprised to find that the concerns of the regulators in this highly regulated industry ring true for your IT team.
We all know that malware is on the rise and that it’s worse for Mac users than ever before. But do you know how you can leverage your mobile device management (MDM) tools to meet the security objectives these state regulators have laid out?
Let’s dig into their high-level recommendations and how you can improve your Apple device security while at a time when much of your company is still working remotely.
What Are the New Guidelines for Mobile Device Security?
State regulators in the financial industry and SEC leadership shares four major items on their lists of guidelines for mobile device security, and we’re very much on board with their wishlist:
- All organizations should have written policies for mobile device use and management.
- Both parties recommend using an MDM solution to remotely manage devices in your environment.
- IT administrations should encourage or require multi-factor authentication (MFA) and other security measures to ensure that the end users’ credentials remain secure.
- As part of policies and best practices, you should provide end users with training on how to securely operate on mobile devices and how to identify high-risk interactions, including potential phishing schemes.
While these four goals may seem basic to an experienced Apple device manager, it’s never a bad idea to restate your objectives and reassess how your current practices align with your goals. Ideally, this should be part of an ongoing security risk assessment policy.
Mobile Device Management Provides Critical Visibility into Your Network
It’s never been more important to take a proactive stance on device security, and there’s no better way to manage Apple devices remotely than with the help of an MDM solution.
People choose Apple devices for enterprise because of their excellent user experience and for their best-in-class operating systems, but companies are increasingly interested in Apple’s suite of products because they’re uniquely designed for secure mobile networking and remote support.
An MDM solution can enable your IT team to get a single-pane of glass view into your entire Apple device inventory. And knowing what devices are on your network is the first step to assessing the security risks at play.
Mobile device management is key to supporting the Apple devices your end users rely on, but it also allows end users to reach out when they have questions or concerns about their managed Apple devices.
The end result of this improved end-user support? MDM solutions help boost employee engagement, productivity, and morale.
Set Up Alerts to Help Remotely Monitor and Remediate Issues that May Arise
Once you’re able to see what Apple devices are in your network, you’re well-positioned to manage these devices and provide ongoing support.
One of the key strategies for promoting Apple device security is monitoring and remediation. We’ve written elsewhere about the best practices for alerts and remediation, and we strongly recommend using your mobile device management solution to ensure that all devices in your network are set up with appropriate anti-malware and antivirus software.
With Addigy’s unique live support tools, you don’t have to wait five minutes or two hours to find out if there’s been a security breach on one of your enrolled Apple devices: with Addigy Live support, you can get an alert in your inbox as soon as the status of one of your devices falls out of the boundaries you’ve set as an administrator.
Take a Proactive Stance against Cybersecurity Threats with an MDM Solution
With an MDM solution in place, companies in any industry can enroll and deploy new Apple devices with all the software they need configured right out of the box.
Even better, you can use mobile device management tools to deploy custom app configurations to ensure that your anti-virus and anti-malware software is up and running. You can push critical software updates to end-users and perform updates without interrupting day-to-day operations.
In short, you can support your entire Apple fleet, wherever they’re working and work securely with the knowledge that you have the ability to support your end users in the face of whatever challenge comes next.
