FEATURE: MOBILE SECURITY
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CIOs need to get to terms
with how to manage
their mobile workforce
to ensure productivity
and security. We hear
from Mato Petrusic,
VP EMEA at iPass, who
provides his opinion on
how companies can better
protect their networks
against public Wi-Fi
hackers by utilising VPNs.
M
obile working is increasingly
becoming the norm for many
enterprises, with Strategy
Analytics predicting that there
will be 1.75 billion mobile workers by 2020.
At the same time, mobile security threats are
on the rise: according to the McAfee Mobile
Threat Report Q1 2018, 16 million users
were hit with mobile malware in the third
quarter of 2017, nearly double the number it
recorded the year before.
Today’s professionals rarely stay in one
fixed location; they could be at an airport
departure lounge one day and working at a
café between meetings the next. Wherever
they are, mobile workers can likely find free
or on-demand Wi-Fi to access the corporate
systems and data they need in order to do
their job. For all the benefits this increased
Wi-Fi access brings, it has also resulted
in a significantly higher business risk. For
example, there has been a surge in network
spoofing in recent years. Network spoofing
involves hackers setting up a fake network
in a public place and waiting for users to
connect. Once they have done so, the hacker
can watch the victim’s traffic and siphon off
sensitive information such as bank logins,
personal information or credit card numbers.
It’s also possible for cybercriminals to spy on
the traffic flowing over unsecured networks
that are set up in public locations.
Free public Wi-Fi and its usage continues
to pose the biggest mobile security threat
Mato Petrusic, VP
EMEA at iPass
Mobility and security
in the age of free
public Wi-Fi
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