Smartphones Present Network Security Challenges

In an article contributed by Shubhomoy Biswas, Country Director – India, SonicWALL and presented on Voice & Data, Biswas writes that all smartphones are uncontrolled endpoints and the high usage of smartphones in the corporate world demands a universal, platform-agnostic approach to security best practices. Allowing personal smartphone devices to be used as corporate network endpoints creates
a number of security issues. In the article, Biswas suggests the implementation by organizations of security practices is simple
when using technologies such as SSL VPNs and next generation firewalls with application intelligence and control.

“Smartphones have shifted their primary focus from being primarily a cell phone to becoming an evolving Web-enabled computing platform. Ultimately, telephony is just another smartphone application. Today’s smartphones have much the same functionality and, unfortunately, vulnerabilities as yesterday’s laptops.
Acting as mobile network endpoint devices connected to the Internet, smartphone platforms are inherently insecure. Whether corporate-issued or personally owned, smartphones easily move in and out of the network, traversing internal and external firewalls. Of particular concern, it is harder for IT to control what users do with their smartphone devices, and how these devices expose business data to security threats.

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