Tag Archives: Data Encryption

Linking Mobile Devices for Data Consolidation

December 8, 2015 Kris Price

Data is becoming increasingly unstructured. While data is reproduced through several means, including in devices such as laptops, desktops, and smartphones and other devices, data consolidation and definition has become challenging. However, such data should be merged, defined and even made available to the people that need the information for the purpose of decision making. So far, data consolidation either never happened or happened very infrequently among all verticals. This has forced decision markers to guess at trends and reach at conclusions based on the available data. However, today things are different and data consolidation and definition can be handled rightly.

There can be changes in the face of computing around your company due to the incorporation of cloud computing. There are also possible things you can do with your data banks which include, centralizing them and linking your mobile devices to the data banks for the main purpose of either downloading of uploading information on the go. You can easily define polices of your enterprise for the mobile employees and automate the process of data backup from plethora of systems online. This is to make it easy for collection of data, categorization, indexing and presentation of data notwithstanding the fact that it is generated or even within a short period of time.

Loss of mobile devices should not be disastrous. There are ways you can prevent data breaches. For instance, you can run your entire mobile devices data on a very “thin” client; and and also store all your information in an Internet based repository. As a result, there will be no impact due to the loss of your mobile device, as it will just be a loss of a piece of hardware instead of a loss of hardware and important information. Encrypting all of the data on the device will give you an added security; and crooks or unauthorized persons that get hold of your mobile device will not be able to gain access to the data in the device or even in your Internet based storage vaults without having necessary authentication.

Mobile access and computing has brought a paradigm shift in the manner in which businesses are being carried. Thus far, there are still people that are still questioning whether mobile computing is necessarily “ready” when it comes to anchoring data that are mission-critical. No doubt about the fact that there are lots of unchartered and unexploited areas available today. Before deciding to take up the leap, you will need to consider and evaluate the possible risks that could cause your enterprise. In addition, mobile computing architectures need to reach its maturity stage, and the applications are what you need to scrutinize before going ahead to approve that it is risk-free to increase your application platform and migrate to mobile computing. Application developers and system architects could face glitches and confidential expectations when it comes to compliance with statutory privacy requirements.

Hopefully, the above discussion has made you aware about the facts when it comes to anchoring data that are generated on mobile services.

How Do You Protect Company Data Found in Laptops?

November 18, 2015 Callum Huddlestone

Portability feature of laptops have given convenience to its users. It is a fact that portability nature of mobile devices has made it easy for bandits to target laptops to make some money or get access to restricted data. It is necessary for laptop users to take some additional precautionary measures to protect their laptop data from loss or theft. Today, most enterprises allow employees to work using laptops and the mobile workforce is growing steadily. These enterprises have an overriding concern to keep their sensitive information safe. Here are some guidelines that will enhance security of your laptop data:

First of all, there must be primary security protocols for laptop to protect data. Use of password, anti-virus software to work against malware, and hard drive encryption are some of the ways to improve security. In addition to malware threats or theft, data loss is possible due to human error. In order to cope with such situations, it is necessary to activate on-going continuous data protection on to a secondary portable drive. To improve security of data, the laptop drive can be partitioned. The removable drive should be stored away from the laptop to prevent simultaneous loss.

Companies should clearly communicate with all of its mobile workers that laptop data must be backed up on a regular basis in to their online repository vaults. Whenever a laptop has made an online connection, an automated alert should be generated reminding the user to backup the data. Easy to use, client based software should be installed. The owner of the laptop should be given access to upload important data online to the remote servers using the client interface. It is important to disclose that user ID and password to access and upload or download data online should not be saved in the laptop itself. It needs to be kept in a secure location, away from the laptop or its case.

To reinforce a secure environment, the company should have a policy to allow data downloads in an emergency situations only. Laptop must only contain data that is related to ongoing tasks. It should not have access to data that is not currently in use. Users of laptop must be given training on how to download data, and they should only keep relevant data on the drive. Unnecessary data must be deleted or removed from the laptop disk. It is necessary to perform laptop data cleaning whenever the laptop is returned back to the company after completing a field trip.

To protect data, laptop users should use private networks only. Usually, open networks are in access at hotel rooms, airports, stations and conference centres. Open networks are not safe for laptop users. It is easy for hackers to connect hacking programs with open network and compromise your data, including emails, password, and all data stored in the laptop.

Laptop users are required to encrypt data before transferring from laptop to office network. Encryption data requires specific key, password or PIN number. In other words, only authorised users, who have the right key have the right to use encrypted data. Moreover, only Virtual Private Network should be used to prevent data loss. If you cannot get access to Virtual Private Network of your company, it is good to use network from reliable service providers. It gives guarantee that all data is fully protected and not in range of other users.

Cloud Based Data Vs. Unmanaged Local Data – Which One is Insecure?

March 6, 2015 Kris Price

Did you know that some organisations collect informational data whenever and wherever? But, in most cases, the collected data just sits idle. You might wander why the very data that they put a lot of energy to collect simply sits idle – this is due to lack of data management. This leads to unmanaged data and might prove to be costly.

Unmanaged data causes a lot of headaches. In fact, it is a complete waste of organisational resources. It can cause decision makers to make mistakes if unmanaged data is used, resulting in huge consequences. Therefore, collected data must be well managed, neatly organised, and used accurately.

The cloud offers reliable technologies for easy data management. Data that is well organised in the cloud can benefit organisations in three ways:

Compliance: if data is properly managed, it becomes legally compliant. E-discovery for legal purposes, and data protection will become very easy if data is managed well. As a result, This short and long run savings will be realised.

Efficiency: if data is organised, then its management becomes easier and automatic. As a result, less resources could be assigned for data management.

Profitability: organised data can help reveal useful data and bring it to the forefront, showing information about products and leads. Companies tracking information about product opportunities and leads can benefit by taking action promptly and capturing the customer. This can be done at the moment when the need is the greatest.

Cloud computing contributes greatly to data management. First, it removes data silos. Cloud backup and storage is used to direct organised data to the cloud, allowing consolidation and organisation. As a result of the cloud usage, data can be organised in a single database.

With unstructured data, the organisation has no idea what is being leaked and who is doing the leaking or who is harvesting the data from their systems! Data sent to cloud repositories is encrypted. The encryption key is available only with the data administrator of the organisation. Anyone attempting to access the cloud database without appropriate authorisation is tracked, logged and can be instantly located. Even when the data access attempt has been successful, the encryption will deprive them of the pleasures of being able to gain the access.

As you can understand from this discussion, it is actually costly and disastrous to have unstructured data in your organisation than having it in the cloud.