Ipad’s and tablet’s and Hybrid’s …Oh My!
There is no doubt you’ve looked, touched and maybe even longed for one of the new tablet technologies on the market today. But is the grand world of tablets a bubble bound to burst or solid as a rock. There are numerous devices flooding the ‘I’m too cool for a PC or Mac market’. Some companies boast they’ve already sold millions with some saying they’ve done it in less than three months of launching the product. That is a lot of mobile devices in the hands of savvy and not so savvy users. What impact could that have on an organization?
Executives always seem to lead charge with cutting edge technology demanding full access and full security with whatever device is hot in the ‘first class gang’ or the ‘manage by magazine crew’. Which begs the question, how secure are your tablets and the information on it? Many of the new tablet producers claim their devices are as or safer than laptops or desktops. However with portability may come accessibility? Thankfully there are a few things you can do immediately to help protect yourself.
First and foremost turn on every layer of PASSWORD PROTECTION and don’t use your address or kids name. Passwords as we all know need to be complicated …as my engineer says “I’d rather reset a difficult password than leave you wide open for others”. A password should really contain letters, numbers and even if possible characters meaning your pals the # or * sign.
Look for a DATA CLEAR delete information option/setting inside the device if the wrong login is used after a certain number of attempts. Sensitive information such as sales figures, customer contact information and strategic company secrets maybe worth millions more than your $500 device.
Ensure you have DATA ENCRYPTION activated or an external program that will protect you no matter where you are connecting from or to inside our outside your network.
If your tablet grows legs you’ll be happy that you listened to me and created a BACKUP PLAN for your data. Either to your HQ location or to the ‘cloud’ it’s easy to develop and automatically schedule. And even with all of these precautions do not store any data especially ACCESS information (passwords, system login, etc) on your tablet device.
It may seem like common sense to most but the fast moving, ever changing, I want it now and fast user may never take any of these things into consideration. PEI can help you develop and execute a safe and secure network environment. For now I believe the question whether this is a fad or the new fashion of computing is pretty simple to me, Tablet is the new Black!
-Jennifer Smith, PEI
