Why your users could be the 'bad guys' affecting your mobile security?

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: KEITH SHAW ON WIRELESS COMPUTING
DEVICES
07/19/05
Today's focus: Why your users could be the 'bad guys' affecting
your mobile security?

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* How many mobile devices have your users plugged into your
  network?
* Links related to Wireless Computing Devices
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Why your users could be the 'bad guys' affecting
your mobile security?

By Keith Shaw

We often talk about mobile device security in terms of the
latest worm, virus or attack that the "bad guys" are planning to
launch onto the Palm, BlackBerry or Pocket PC devices.

Most companies probably don't realize that their corporate data
is threatened more by the actions of the "good guys" - the
employees in the company who are using the devices. An employee
plugging in a USB thumb drive into their laptop has just exposed
a potential vulnerability greater than a cell phone virus that
may or may never get downloaded onto their device.

For large companies, getting a handle on what employees are
doing with their notebooks and portable devices is the first
step in providing a comprehensive security plan for secure
mobility. I had a great discussion recently with officials from
Trust Digital, which just released the latest version of its
software, Trust Digital 2005. The software provides a security
platform that not only identifies the types of vulnerabilities
on mobile devices (laptops and portable handhelds) but also
offers a policy-based approach to secure the corporate data on
the devices through encryption.

Knowing what employees are doing with the mobility is key, says
Nick Magliato, CEO at Trust Digital. For example, if a company
figures out that the accounting department is connecting USB
thumb drives to their notebooks, but not PDAs, the company can
block the connection of PDAs, but allow thumb drives. "Once you
figure out what employees are using their mobile devices for,
you can then say, 'This group needs this set of policies, and
the other group needs something else,'" Magliato says.

The Trust Digital 2005 platform includes a visualization tool
that gives companies a snapshot of their mobile data risks, thus
handling the first step of finding out what users are doing.
Once policies are established, the system can approve that only
certain data, applications or devices have access to corporate
data. Magliato says encrypting only the corporate data is more
efficient than other systems that encrypt everything (encrypting
and decrypting on a mobile device all the time ends up draining
battery life), or require passwords for every application on the
device.

The new software costs about $100 per device, Trust Digital
says, and includes the software, policy engine and
infrastructure server components.

The company also offers companies a free PC scan application
(download at
<http://www.trustdigital.com/solutions/mobileedge_scan.asp> )
that will show you a report of every device that a notebook user
has connected to it, as well as potential vulnerabilities. I ran
the report myself and was amazed at the number of USB thumb
drives that I had connected to the notebook over the past few
years. One downside of the free application is that I couldn't
print the report (the actual software likely has the print
capability).

So if your company has been struggling with figuring out how
secure they are in terms of mobile device usage, check out the
offerings from Trust Digital.
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Keith Shaw

Keith Shaw is Senior Editor, Product Testing, at Network World.
In addition, he writes the " Cool Tools
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/cooltools.html> "
column, which looks at gizmos, gadgets and other mobile
computing devices.

You can reach Keith at <mailto:kshaw@nww.com>.
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Dupont
Reduce Fire Safety Risk in Your Network!

Concerns are rising about the growing number of combustible
cables present in buildings required to service the
ever-increasing demands of IT networks. More workstations are
taxing the infrastructure. These concerns are the thrust behind
new "limited combustible" cables that reduce fire safety risk.
Click here for news, a free demo CD and more. Visit DuPont's
Cabling center today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=108648
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Wireless Computing Devices newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/mobile/index.html

Keith Shaw's Cool Tools:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/cooltools.html
_______________________________________________________________
Silver bullets for application acceleration?

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users wherever they are.
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FEATURED READER RESOURCE
THE ROI OF VOIP

When it comes to VoIP, most network managers are satisfied that
the technology works. But there are questions: What will the new
technology cost to roll out and support, and what benefits can
companies expect to reap? Check out NW's step-by-step guide on
how to determine the true cost and benefits of VoIP. Click here:
<http://www.networkworld.com/research/2005/071105-voip.html>
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