Creating mobile security policy? Remember 'I love you,' Kaspersky says
I.T. administrators in charge of securing mobile devices must be prepared to tell even executives there are no exceptions when it comes to company policies, says an executive from a security vendor.
User education is a critical part of making sure sensitive corporate data doesn't leak out of the many new end points – in the form of smartphones and tablets – popping up in businesses of all sizes. Whether its employees bringing their new gadgets to the office and wanting to use them for work, or a new company initiative to deploy smartphones to their workforce, a strict security policy matters. That's what Kevin Krempulec, the vice-president of Kaspersky Lab told attendees at IT World Canada's Tech Outlook event today. In doing so, he hearkened back to the “I love you” virus that circulated around the year 2000.
“It played on human emotions,” he said. “What we did as security professionals was an incredible job educating our users to use discretion when opening e-mail attachments.” In the year 2012, users need to be educated in the same way about download apps from mobile store fronts, Krempulec says. And that comes after delivering the basic mobile security 101 messages that users need to lock their devices with a good password.
