Businesses are now more aware of the shocking rate at which businesses go bankrupt due to data breaches. Sequel to that, they have begun investing in data security techniques intending to safeguard data and restrict intruders.
Encryption has, however, appeared to be a vital component of those techniques to keep data from malicious outsiders and the carelessness of workers. Encryption is not about secrets. Rather, it is about security.
Encryption is a way of having your data scrambled, such that only authorized people with the right decryption key (which may be a password, pin, or pattern) can view it, read it, or understand it.
Encryption is one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of data security. Therefore, as a business owner, you should know why encrypted phones are essential for your business.
4 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Encrypted Phones
For Defense
Concerning cyberattacks, businesses sometimes do not have the power to stop them, particularly when they do not occur as brute force attacks, but due to social engineering or phishing whereby workers unknowingly click malicious links, reveal their documents to outsiders, or download attachments that have been unaware-riddled.
The moment they enter the network, attackers will be able to view and steal confidential data easily. Meanwhile, if your phone is encrypted, they will have no way to access the data without a decryption key, which will prevent the data on your phone from being compromised.
For Protection
Data on the move is a significant risk that organizations face. This means that all devices, whether mobile phones, tablets, or laptops, which have sensitive data, typically move outside the premises of the security of the business network (both digital and physical).
More employees take their devices out of the workplace for one reason or the other. It may be as a result of working remotely, conferences, or meetings.
Thus, those devices become vulnerable to theft. Those devices are also liable to the carelessness and forgetfulness of the workers. For example, a phone forgotten in a taxi, a lost USB, or a laptop left not supervised for a while, can spill danger.
Encryption, however, makes sure that even if a phone or other mobile devices get misplaced or lost, the data they contain will remain useless to whoever tries to gain access to it without the correct decryption key.
Hence, you should always make sure that all devices get encrypted before they leave the workplace arena. Moreso, the majority of phones nowadays have an encryption option which can be activated with ease. On the other hand, laptops can have their classified data or hard drives encrypted based on the available tools your organization would prefer to use.
Furthermore, bear in mind that portable devices, such as external drives and USBs, are not expected to be forgotten. USBs, especially, are not often put into consideration when it comes to data security techniques. Meanwhile, due to their easy portability and size, they are one of the biggest offenders concerning loss of data.
Encryption of data is always a convenient solution to a persistent problem.
Encrypted Phones Help to Achieve Compliance
In recent days, data protection is no more an option. Businesses can no longer ignore the problem and hope malicious strangers will not target them.
This technique may have been feasible in a pre-General Data Protection Regulation (Pre-GDPR) world. However, ever since the European Union’s GDPR took charge of the world, there are only a few countries now where the legislation of data protection has not been adopted or is still being debated.
The essence of these new laws is the protection of data via design and through default, with the focus being the data subject.
Under those new laws, organizations can be fined, not only for breaches of data, but also for not respecting the new rights given to data subjects under them. Thus, using phones that have been encrypted to safeguard confidential data, whether in transit, at rest, or on the move, is a decisive step toward compliance.
As a matter of fact, the GDPR itself suggests encryption of devices as an effective method for data protection. Nevertheless, the data protection standards, like the CIS Controls, encourage a technique of data security by a combination of encryption, data loss prevention methods, and integrity protection.
To Ensure Privacy
As a business owner, your videos and camera roll must be more personal than even your Facebook account.
Putting into consideration the problem usually caused by NSFW photos, the conclusion is that you do not have to be popularly known for potential leaks to be a powerful threat to you and the reputation of your business.
If you have ever taken or received intimate pictures, irrespective of your identity or personality, you could be a target for the detestable blackmailing strategy known as sextortion. This is when footage or an image is used to gain an advantage over you.
Nevertheless, this act has become even more threatening, with scammers deceiving victims into downloading malicious applications that will give them total supremacy over your relationship with friends and family members.
Although using encrypted phones will not end your engagement with fake profiles being developed by fraudsters, it will prevent any thief from going through your pictures.
For an increased level of privacy, you could also install specific apps that will hide your pictures behind another password or PIN. Note that you are not expected to use the same password or PIN that unlocks your phone.
Encryption of Phones
The encryption of mobile phones is not new in the mobile industry. Moreover, encryption has become an unavoidable aspect for every producer of smartphones. That is, from safeguarding your data from getting compromised to ensuring the confidentiality of your details, mobile phone encryption can achieve all that for you.
Now that you know why your business should use encrypted phones, it is time to encrypt all your mobile devices and prevent your data from breaches.
