5 Ways IT Service Providers Can Win With SMB Mobile Security

By Farokh Karani, Director, North America – Sales & Channels, Quick Heal Technologies

When the mobility wave hit, data security got way more complicated for IT services providers and their SMB customers. Indeed, as mobile devices have infiltrated the SMB market in a big way, hackers have kept pace, waging full-blown attacks against the mobile landscape. Studies have shown that mobile malware assaults rose by 58 percent in 2012, making mobile data security one of the biggest threats for businesses today. 

While the attacks have increased, SMBs nevertheless have become increasingly dependent on their mobile devices because they have allowed business productivity to soar, as we do more and more business related work from smartphones and tablets.  

Now, in the face of new competition from the big cloud service providers, who have set their sights on selling direct to end users, the onus is on IT service providers to offer first-class mobile protection while continuing to do what they do best — serve their customers from a position of trust.

Here are five ways the IT channel can keep mobile data safe while competition heats up:

1. Begin With Backup. Every good mobile security plan begins with good backup. Whether we’re talking about transactional data, competitive data, or customer data, protecting your clients’ critical business files is a top priority. As the use of mobile devices has increased, this information is now residing on laptops, tablets, and smartphones. And whether those devices are taken around the block or to all corners of the globe, they are vulnerable to security threats at all times, which means the need for robust data backup is just as essential as it is for desktop machines and servers. The reseller’s job is to ensure that a broad range of mobile data — from contacts, text messages, email and more — is conveniently available when employees need it, and where they need it. To keep pace with the mobile device explosion, resellers are increasingly turning to cloud-enabled solutions to drive automated 24/7 backup and business continuity efforts, with secure data center storage options. The secret sauce for these VARs is to offer the human touch — a customized approach to backup and data security overall — which the big cloud providers simply aren’t set up to provide.
    
2. Don’t Let Crime Pay. IDG Research experts say one out of every 10 smart phone users are victims of theft and as many as 68 percent never recover their lost or stolen mobile devices. Astute resellers can take steps to stop this kind of threat in its tracks for their SMB customers by implementing tools that track when a phone’s SIM card is changed. This change, in turn, can trigger a notification to an alternate number of the reseller’s choosing, enabling the device to completely lock out the thief. In addition, resellers should ensure that their antitheft solution is set to not only track the location of a lost or stolen client device, but also to gain remote access to it to lock it down and wipe its data. To streamline this process, these and other capabilities should be automatically loaded onto mobile devices as onboarding takes place.
    
3. Mobile Threat Management. With mobile threat management (MTM), malware can be stopped before a device is breached. MTM tools allow resellers to implement control features to block malicious websites, as well as sites that are inappropriate for clients’ employees, while also blocking and blacklisting known and unknown numbers, unwanted or unsolicited calls, and text messages, along with bothersome spam.

Threat management should also include robust encryption to protect sensitive customer or employee data as it is gathered and stored. It should also allow tracking of the Internet activities of the people using the device with “event loggers” and other tools that allow reporting and analysis of every activity taking place on the client’s mobile devices.

Lastly, experts say that 67 percent of companies allow workers to download unapproved/untested mobile apps on their devices, paving the way for hackers to gain access to sensitive data. To eliminate this risk, resellers need to be sure that every device allowed on the client’s network meets all established corporate security standards and policies.

4. Vigilant Malware Protection. It goes without saying that mobile malware protection should be performed vigilantly, vigorously, and proactively. These tools should, first and foremost, scan apps for security issues right when they are downloaded to ensure up-to-the-minute protection for users. The best offerings operate continuously in the background to defend the mobile device’s file system against malware threats. In addition, these preferred solutions perform automatic updates to deliver 24/7, real-time virus protection. Word to the wise, don’t skimp on these tools: resellers need to go big with virus protection or go home, because loss of data also means loss of reputation for the IT service provider.  It’s also worth noting that price doesn’t necessarily equate to effectiveness. Check the ratings issued by the international testing authorities and see where the top solutions rank.
    
5. Complete And Comprehensive: Experts say SMBs prefer a security product suite as opposed to implementing individual best-of-breed point solutions — and that goes for mobile environments, too. As an IT service provider, keeping security simple for clients means providing them with complete endpoint, gateway, and mobile security management that’s integrated, organized and cloud-enabled. Managing multiple solutions to cover all the bases simply doesn’t make sense for today’s time-strapped SMB, so give them what they want — a single, centralized solution that covers all the layers of security to protect the corporate network, including all of their mobile devices.

The mobile environment is clearly no longer a safe place for business data. It’s up to SMBs to start thinking of data security in bigger terms. Insufficient point solutions as well as limited approaches to data protection no longer get the job done. As the mobile world has become more complex, it’s now up to IT service providers to lead the way — to move comprehensive IT security to the forefront for SMBs, making it as painless as possible through white-glove services, proven skills, and a relationship built on trust.  

Farokh Karani is the director of North American sales and channels, for Quick Heal Technologies, a global provider of IT security solutions. Quick Heal’s SEQRITE data security product line is specifically targeted at small to midsize enterprises and is sold in North America through channel partners.