Regaining Control over your Mobile Users

No matter how much time or money some corporations spend on securing their network, once they allow mobile (laptop) users to connect to their internal network they are exposing that network to a wide variety of security risks. Their once-secure network has now potentially become a hacker's playground. This problem arises because mobile users will connect their corporate laptops to an un-trusted network while away from the office. When they return, they frequently do not have their mobile systems scanned before re-connecting to the corporate network to ensure they still meet the current security posture of the corporation. Unless administrators are able to manage these mobile users' access to the corporate network, the networks risk to malware is greatly increased. In this paper, I will discuss the industry's recommendation for a secure environment for mobile users. Some areas of concern that I will cover will include software standardization, security policies, and security awareness training. I will briefly discuss two vendor's products that can help administrators gain control of their mobile systems and reduce the risk of malware on their network.