A new report into mobile working has predicted that in the next two years the number of people who can be classed as mobile workers will total over one billion. IT expert Mark Tickle has expressed his concerns over the growing threats facing mobile workers as they become more numerous and consequently present a more attractive target to malware writers and other online criminals.
However, Mr Tickle also proposed solutions to the problem as to how to protect mobile workers, citing the power of cloud computing and the additional security benefits it offers over traditional systems that are unable to cope with the mobile working environment.
The main issue with mobile working is that centralised management of computing equipment is just not possible. As such keeping anti-virus software up to date, as would be possible with a unified, static system, is more difficult and not a sustainable solution.
VPNs are one direct solution to this problem, but the additional resources required to route multiple mobile users through a business network from remote access points can be a little too expensive for some businesses and will affect the network performance for all staff.
Mr Tickle believes that software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions provided by external firms for a business could be the best way to permit mobile working, whether remotely from home or from any laptop with an internet connection.
By outsourcing the security responsibilities to a third party, IT departments will be able to free up more time and money to focus on developing their own business rather than fighting off the threat of data theft and disaster prevention.
SaaS solutions work so well in the face of malware and hackers because they prevent an unknown quantity to those coders who would work to damage businesses. Whilst criminals ply their trade against the most common anti-virus programs used by enterprises, they are less likely to be able to circumvent the security of a cloud vendor because the system will be unavailable to them.
Mr Tickle said that companies will need to think carefully about how they manage their IT security concerns and recognise that the ubiquity of a centralised cloud security system will ensure greater protection than would be possible by any other means.
