Coleman Technologies Blog

If you don’t have guards or security cameras in place, you’re more likely to suffer from a physical security breach, which can be just as devastating as a digital breach. Ask yourself how comprehensive your security really is. After all, the new year has just hit, so why not use it as an opportunity to protect your business’ physical assets? With so many cyber threats out there these days, it’s no surprise that organizations focus on the digital aspect of security, but some people are just old-fashioned and would rather infiltrate a business the traditional way.

It’s also important to keep in mind that not everyone is going to be the perfect employee. You might have a couple of bad apples in the bunch that see technology and want it for themselves. In this case, digital security might not mean much, but physical security like locked doors and so on could make all the difference in keeping them from making decisions that are bad for both themselves and your business.

Basically, you need to take this two-pronged approach--one that considers both digital security and physical security--for the following reasons:

• Data access is restricted to those within your organization, but even the best employees make mistakes.
• A tiered approach means that employees only have permission to access data they need for their immediate work responsibilities.
• Knowing who is accessing devices and data, as well as when they are doing so, can help you to resolve issues as they occur.

Let’s consider a couple of scenarios where it helps to have physical and digital security. Access control limits who can access specific information, so if the data is corrupt or missing, then you’ll have a clear idea for who is responsible for it. On the off-chance that it wasn’t the employee, then you know their credentials have been stolen and abused by a cybercriminal. Access monitoring is helpful for this, as it can also determine when someone is accessing data, as well as where they are located. Thus, if someone from another country is accessing data in the wee hours of the morning, it’s likely that you have a digital security problem on your hands.

As far as physical security goes, consider what would happen if you didn’t keep track of who checks out devices. For example, let’s say you have company laptops that can be checked out for use by your employees. If you’re not keeping track of who checks out what device, you’ll never know who currently has the devices in their possession, as well as when they were last taken out. It makes it astonishingly easy to get away with stealing a device.

Therefore, in order to make sure that you’re keeping your data as secure as possible from all avenues of attacks, we recommend you work with the folks from Coleman Technologies. We can help you ensure security. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

Of course, it’s not entirely the fault of the user, even if they do represent part of the blame for this. Internet of Things devices are well-known security threats, but it’s largely because of the way they are designed and developed. Even if the user was aware of the security issues presented by these devices, the truth is that there isn’t anything they can do about it barring just not using them outright.

This is due to the fact that the security issues found in Internet of Things devices are built into them, particularly because the developers of the devices don’t build them with security in mind. If you think about it in terms of what they are used to building--devices that don’t have any kind of connectivity--it all begins to make sense. A manufacturer who produces a smart blender isn’t a software engineer or a security professional. Up until that point, they just made blenders, so they had no need for software development or security. Unfortunately, this creates a device that is made with functionality in mind over security, much to the detriment of businesses.

These devices are most vulnerable to threats that could be patched, if only the Internet of Things devices were easily patched by the developer and the user. This isn’t currently the case. It’s practically impossible to distribute patches to all Internet of Things devices manually, so if the developer hasn’t enabled automatic updates, you can forget about the user actually doing it, unless it gets in the way of the core functionality of the device. While this responsibility would fall on the developer, some have also suggested the implementation of unique default passwords, as users often see no need to change the default password on their new device before putting it to work.

To counteract these threats, businesses have to implement measures to keep their networks safe from the wave of additional devices entering the office. Whether you’re aware of it or not, it’s likely that employees are bringing new devices to work every day, whether it’s a tablet or a smart watch. A Bring Your Own Device policy with clear-cut rules on what’s allowed and what’s not will go a long way toward keeping unwanted devices in the workplace, and it can help to provide a general outline for how these devices should be used in the office as well. Remember, it’s about the future of your business, not about inconveniencing anyone.

If your business could use a hand with implementing a BYOD policy, Coleman Technologies can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.