On March 25th, NFF and Cisco cohosted a private event for business leaders and IT professionals addressing the mobile security challenges businesses are facing. Luckily the snowy conditions of that morning did not prevent our audience from attending.

It became clear that most companies do not have a mobile security policy in place, or they have one that is enforced inadequately. The risks of data breaches by the use of personal devices on the corporate network are tremendous. The average worker currently owns two to three mobile devices and they are going to use them at work whether employers like it or not. Organizations allow this because they see the need for user convenience and productivity, but wonder how to establish that in a secure way.

During our panel discussion, questions revolved around policy development and enforcement, which is a continuous process. Secure Mobility is more than a solution. The focus goes beyond privacy concerns and protecting intellectual property. Some panelists even suggested that it is a business imperative i.e. that companies need to refine the controls users have over their data on mobile devices as well as on desktop computers. Understanding what happens to your data and having the ability to control it is key.

Organizations need to support employee “bring-your-own-device” (BYOD) policies. There is a desire for more secure access for company data centers and virtualized resources. Cisco’s Identity Services Engine (ISE) is the solution of choice to support this. NFF is certified as an Authorized Technology Provider for the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) technology. 

NFF plans to organize this event again in the near future. Let us know if you are interested in attending the next event and we’ll make sure to send you an invitation!