iPhone Security Could Improve at NCUA: OIG Audit

The NCUA’s Inspector General recommended ways the agency could improve its security policies and controls regarding agency-issued mobile devices, such as iPhones, to enhance the protection of its data and resources.

Image source: Article

The NCUA had been issuing agency-owned iPhones to employees and contractors since April 2012, which could access the agency’s exchange server.

Do you agree with IG's recommendation that the NCUA supplement or enhance its existing mobile device security policies, controls and configuration settings by addressing the security measures, such as passcode guidance or controls, unauthorized applications, container-based encryption, bluetooth controls and QR codes?

How Credit Unions Can Safely Embrace Bring-Your-Own-Device

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs, which allow employees to use their own smartphones and tablets in the work environment, are significantly changing information technology.

Image source: imsmartin

Credit unions and other financial service firms are among the organizations embracing BYOD, as it allows senior executives and employees to use for work and pleasure the mobile devices, service providers and operating platforms of their choice.

IT research firm Gartner Inc. predicts that by 2013, 80% of businesses will support a workforce using tablets, and by 2014, 90% of organizations will support corporate applications on personal devices.

To learn more about BYOD considerations, prohibitions, and partnering, read the full article.

Good Technology debuts new BYOD services for speedier migrations

Good Technology is rolling out two new services designed to deal with the prevalent BYOD (bring your own device) issue, but the motivation behind the solutions might be more telling.

Image source: Spark PR

Essentially, Good learned that customers such as Nationwide Insurance, UBS and Franklin Templeton wanted help accelerating their moves from BlackBerry to devices like iPhones, iPad and Android.

According to Good, many were originally planning for 3-year transitions, but later speeded that up to six months given the rocky future of Research In Motion.

What's your CU's mobile strategy? Are you migrating more quickly than originally planned? Read the article to see how Good could help with your migration.

Technology change agents make e-discovery better or worse

Change agents in technology, including social networking, cloud computing, and bringing your own devices to work, are changing how we do business and communicate, and impacts how organizations need to approach e-discovery.

Image source: imsmartin

With so much data and so many different data sources and destinations to keep track of, companies are struggling to keep up with security, forensics, and e-discovery.

Proper e-discovery is driven by proper forensics, which is fed by proper security management. These three functional turfs are converging at breakneck speed, and vendor offerings are starting to merge.

Read the full article to learn what the merging of these three trends means for your credit union.

A portion of this article reprinted with permission from ALM's Legal Technology News. Further duplication is prohibited.

BYOD is a user-driven movement, not a secure mobile device strategy

As phenomenal as the “bring your own device” (BYOD) movement may be, it sure is complicating things for IT security planning.

Image source: imsmartin

Whether people are bringing their own mobile devices into the workplace in order to access corporate resources or simply to check their social networks, the movement is unstoppable. Recent reports from sources such as Gartner and Cisco forecast 90% of businesses supporting corporate applications on mobile devices by 2014, and a 3.47 average number of devices per person by 2015, expected to increase to 6.58 devices per person by 2020.

That’s a lot of personal devices for your credit union to manage. What to do?

The basic options are: block ALL devices not provisioned, block NO devices at all, or control access for SOME devices, granting or blocking access to resources based on need and risk. Addressing this question alone, however, is not enough, as the real challenge still remains: secure mobility. Even more important than managing device access to your network is controlling what these devices can do while they have access.

What’s your strategy? Is it working? Learn more about combining "mobile device management" (MDM) with "mobile application management" (MAM) and stay on top of BYOD.

7 tips for establishing a successful BYOD policy

This pressure might leave you wondering the keys to developing a BYOD policy and how best to implement it.

Image source: Article

The seven core ideas contained in the article should be a part of any good Bring Your Own Device program. Each idea comes with many important questions to ask yourself, your IT associates and your executive team while developing a BYOD policy.

First on the list: Specify what devices are permitted. It's important to decide exactly what you mean when you say "bring your own device." Make it clear to employees who are interested in BYOD which devices you will support - in addition to whatever CU-issued devices you continue to deploy-and which you won't.

Read the full article to see the rest of the BYOD tips.

Video: The expanded threat landscape

While operating in the Cloud as well as the growing “bring-your-own-device” (BYOD) trends in business may help to expand your credit union’s services, they also means a lot more threat vectors for your IT security team to consider.

Image source: Article

Laptops, tablets, smartphones, cloud systems…as more and more technologies emerge, more and more business processes are moving to the Cloud, and simultaneously more and more employees are bringing their own personal Internet devices into the enterprise – all yielding new vulnerabilities plus less control over the security of the online environments themselves.

Hosted by Greg Masters, managing editor at SC Magazine, this video interview addresses the evolving threat landscape and identifies security tactics to help prepare for and respond to cybercrime in today's world.

Watch the video to see and hear what the Masters captures during his interview.

BYOB? BYOC? No… BYOD

Acronyms are just a part of life and one of the newest ones that we have heard… BOYD, bring your own device. In today's world, it is not just unusual, but unheard of for someone not to have a smartphone.

Image source: Article

Those mundane phones that only allow you to call and text, so last season. The movement of BYOD is just simply unavoidable and inevitable. Not only do we make phone calls and text, but we also email, take notes, research, play games, listen to music, and of course, download the latest app.

So now, with our smart phones in hand, why not create an app that is API compatible to draw in customers, users, and anything else you can think of? Matt McLarty, vice president of client solutions at Layer 7 Technologies, found that when companies put in the effort to create apps that were not only great, but compatible with phones and the API code, they were able to draw in even more of their employees’ interest!

Look here to read more about the growing trend of BYOD.