It has been said that a smartphone is a computer in your hand. Discuss the security implications of this statement.
It has been said that a smartphone is a computer in your hand. Discuss the security implications of this statement.
Chapter1: Taking Risks And Making Profits Within The Dynamic Business Environment
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1CE
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Question
1) It has been said that a smartphone is a computer in your hand. Discuss the security implications of this statement.

Transcribed Image Text:354 Pārt Two Information Technology Infrastructure
Google Play now provides security scanning of all
applications before they are available to download,
ongoing security checks for as long as the appli-
cation is available, and a Verify Apps service for
mobile device protection for apps installed outside
of Google Play. However, these Android improve-
understanding users and their needs helps a mobile
security strategy progress further. VmAirWatch cate-
gorizes similar groups of users and devises a specific
plan of action for each group, choosing the right
tools for the job.
According to Patrick Hevesi, Nordstrom's former
director of security, if users need access to criti-
cal corporate data that must be protected, the firm
should probably allow only fully managed, fully con-
trolled, approved types of devices. Users who only
ments are largely only for people who use a phone
or tablet running a newer version of Android and
restrict their app downloads to Google's own Play
store.
Companies need to develop mobile security strat-
egies that strike the right balance between improv-
ing worker productivity and effective information
security. Aetna's Chief Security Officer (CSO) Jim
Routh says there is a certain minimum level of
mobile security he requires regardless of whether a
device is company- or personally owned. Aetna has
about 6,000 users equipped with mobile devices that
are either personally owned or issued by the com-
pany. Each device has mandatory protection that
provides an encrypted channel to use in unsecured
Wi-Fi networks and alerts the user and the company
if a malicious app is about to be installed on the
want mobile tools for e-mail and contacts can more
easily bring their own devices. The key questions
to ask are called the "three Ws": Who needs access?
What do they need to access? What is the security
posture of the device?
Sources: Michael Heller, "Mobile Security Strategy Matures with
BYOD," and Kathleen Richards, "CISOS Battle to Control Mobile
Risk in the Workplace," Information Security Magazine, June 1, 2016;
Nathan Olivarez-Giles, "Android's Security Improves- for the Few,"
Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2016; Ponemon Institute, The Economic
Risk of Confidential Data on Mobile Devices in the Workplace,"
February, 2016; McAfee Inc., "Mobile Threat Report: What's on the
Horizon for 2016," 2016; Charlie Osborne, "Dropbox Patches Android
Security Flaw," Zero Day, March 11, 2015; Edel Creely, "5 BYOD Secu-
rity Implications and How to Overcome Them," Trilogy Technolo-
gies, May 26, 2015; Tony Kontzer, "Most of Your Mobile Apps Have
Been Hacked," Baseline, January 16, 2015; and Ponemon Institute,
Global Study on Mobility Risks (February 2012).
device.
Colin Minihan, director of security and best
practices at VMWare AirWatch, believes that
CASE STUDY QUESTIONS
1. It has been said that a smartphone is a computer
in your hand. Discuss the security implications of
this statement.
3. What management, organizational, and technol-
ogy issues must be addressed by smartphone
security?
2. What kinds of security problems do mobile com-
puting devices pose?
4. What steps can individuals and businesses take to
make their smartphones more secure?

Transcribed Image Text:INTERACTIVE SESSION: TECHNOLOGY
BYOD: A Security Nightmare?
share files. There are also many instances where
employees are using Dropbox to store and exchange
files without their employers' approval. In early 2015
Dropbox had to patch a security flaw that allowed
cyberattackers to steal new information uploaded
to accounts through compromised third-party apps
that work with Dropbox services on Android devices.
There's very little a company can do to prevent
employees who are allowed to use their smartphones
from downloading corporate data so they can work
on those data remotely.
Text messaging and other mobile messaging tech-
nologies are being used to deliver all kinds of scam
campaigns, such as adult content and rogue phar-
macy, phishing, and banking scams, and text mes-
sages have been a propagation medium for Trojan
Bring your own device has become a huge trend,
with half of employees with mobile computing tools
at workplaces worldwide using their own devices.
This figure is expected to increase even more in the
years to come. But while use of the iPhone, iPad, and
other mobile computing devices in the workplace
is growing, so are security problems. Quite a few
security experts believe that smartphones and other
mobile devices now pose one of the most serious
security threats for organizations today.
Whether mobile devices are company-assigned or
employee-owned, they are opening up new avenues
for accessing corporate data that need to be closely
monitored and protected. Sensitive data on mobile
devices travel, both physically and electronically,
from the office to home and possibly other off-site
locations. According to a February 2016 Ponemon
Institute study of 588 U.S. IT and security profession-
als, 67 percent of those surveyed reported that it was
certain or likely that an employee's mobile access
to confidential corporate data had resulted in a data
breach. Unfortunately, only 41 percent of respon-
dents said their companies had policies for accessing
corporate data from mobile devices.
More than half of security breaches occur when
devices are lost or stolen. That puts all of the per-
sonal and corporate data stored on the device, as well
as access to corporate data on remote servers, at risk.
Physical access to mobile devices may be a greater
threat than hacking into a network because less
effort is required to gain entry. Experienced attack-
ers can easily circumvent passwords or locks on
mobile devices or access encrypted data. Moreover,
many smartphone users leave their phones totally
unprotected to begin with or fail to keep the security
features of their devices up-to-date. In the Websense
and the Ponemon Institute's Global Study on Mobil-
ity Risks, 59 percent of respondents reported that
employees circumvented or disabled security fea-
tures such as passwords and key locks.
Another worry today is large-scale data leakage
caused by use of cloud computing services. Employ-
ees are increasingly using public cloud services such
as Google Drive or Dropbox for file sharing and col-
laboration. Valiant Entertainment, Cenoric Projects,
horses and worms. A malicious source is now able
to send a text message that will open in a mobile
browser by default, which can be readily utilized to
exploit the recipient.
To date, deliberate hacker attacks on mobile
devices have been limited in scope and impact,
but this situation is worsening. Android is now the
world's most popular operating system for mobile
devices with 81 percent of the global market, and
most mobile malware is targeted at the Android plat-
form. When corporate and personal data are stored
on the same device, mobile malware unknowingly
installed by the user could find its way onto the cor-
porate network.
Apple uses a closed "walled garden" model for
managing its apps and reviews each one before
releasing it on its App Store. Android applica-
tion security has been weaker than that for Apple
devices, but it is improving. Android application
security uses sandboxing, which confines apps, mini-
mizing their ability to affect one another or manipu-
late device features without user permission. Google
removes any apps that break its rules against mali-
cious activity from Google Play, its digital distribu-
tion platform that serves as the official app store for
the Android operating system. Google also vets the
backgrounds of developers. Recent Android security
enhancements include assigning varying levels of
trust to each app, dictating what kind of data an app
can access inside its confined domain, and providing
a more robust way to store cryptographic credentials
Vita Coco, and BCBGMAXAZRIAGROUP are among
the companies allowing employees and freelance
contractors to use Dropbox for Business to post and
used to access sensitive information and resources.
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