Secure device offboarding begins with secure onboarding - FinTech Magazine

The Great Resignation shows nary signs of slowing, with 20% of workers worldwide readying to discontinue their jobs this year. This is not lone alarming from a hiring and civilization position but besides from security. Outgoing employees contiguous a important information vulnerability risk, intensified by the caller remote/hybrid-first landscape.

It is nary surprise, therefore, that 98% of concern leaders person cybersecurity concerns astir precocious worker turnover - successful particular, Insider Risk. Insider Risk describes immoderate information vulnerability lawsuit (whether intentional oregon unintentional) that originates from wrong the company, including departing employees.

Business leaders’ main concerns situation idiosyncratic instrumentality usage and visibility. Over fractional (55%) of employees admit to utilizing idiosyncratic devices for enactment astatine slightest immoderate of the time. Hence 71% of concern leaders are acrophobic astir outgoing employees retaining delicate information connected their idiosyncratic devices and/or successful unreality storage.

The aforesaid proportionality (71%) of concern leaders besides accidental they deficiency visibility implicit the information outgoing employees instrumentality to different companies, which tin beryllium peculiarly worrying if employees are transferring to competitors.

Tips for securely offboarding distant worker devices 

Not each organisation tin spend an in-house information operations team, but each organisation should instrumentality basal information extortion measures to minimise information risks during worker offboarding.

It’s important to enactment that a unafraid instrumentality offboarding process doesn't statesman astatine the clip of offboarding. Measures taken earlier a instrumentality is adjacent deployed to a distant prosecute tin assistance to mitigate information risks aboriginal down the line.

Here are threesimple steps you tin instrumentality to guarantee a unafraid instrumentality offboarding process for distant employees.

#1 Supply each idiosyncratic with a institution instrumentality (avoid BYOD models)

The easiest mode to mitigate idiosyncratic instrumentality usage is simply to proviso workers with devices.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies person the illusion of redeeming businesses wealth connected instrumentality procurement. But the mean information breach is estimated to outgo US$4.35m. As implicit fractional of IT professionals judge that idiosyncratic instrumentality usage increases the likelihood of a information breach, this outgo redeeming could beryllium financially detrimental successful the agelong run.

Deploying devices to distant workers has ne'er been easier, acknowledgment to the emergence successful home bureau absorption solutions since the commencement of the pandemic.

#2 Pre-configure devices earlier deploying

If employees acceptable up their enactment devices themselves, they whitethorn usage their idiosyncratic Google oregon Apple ID to log successful to applications. This exposes your organisation to information theft.

Unless you person information measures successful spot to forestall this, idiosyncratic logins volition synchronise information to the unreality for each devices linked to that employee’s account. So your worker could download delicate information onto their idiosyncratic instrumentality utilizing their idiosyncratic login, and clasp that information aft departing your organisation.

If you acceptable up (pre-configure) devices earlier deployment, you tin not lone make idiosyncratic accounts for your worker to forestall idiosyncratic login use, but besides instal information policies onto the instrumentality to minimise different information breach risks.

#3 Choose a instrumentality absorption supplier that enables regularisation of USB use, bundle installation and more

Mobile Device Management (MDM) oregon Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) systems let you to remotely monitor, unafraid and negociate your devices. Ensure your supplier offers the pursuing capabilities to bounds information risks during offboarding:

Restriction of USB use

Organisations tin easy audit emails and different online tools. But USBs and different portable retention devices are fundamentally blindspots for IT and information teams, particularly erstwhile worker devices permission institution offices.

Unless their usage is restricted, employees tin rapidly and easy store delicate information - including emails, interaction lists, databases etc. - connected these devices, and clasp this accusation agelong aft they leave. 

Ensure your MDM facilitates regularisation of USB instrumentality usage - including flash drives, USB cameras, and thumb drives - crossed each firm devices.

Prevent unauthorised app use

Shadow IT - erstwhile employees usage IT systems, devices, applications etc. without IT section cognition oregon support - has crept onto IT information teams’ radars with the emergence successful distant working.

Many organisations make lists of permitted applications, without putting successful spot the measures to forestall unauthorised applications use. However, allowing employees to download immoderate applications they delight increases the hazard of information leakage (e.g. employees transferring delicate concern information via Whatsapp), malware infecting your devices etc.

Minimise these risks by restricting downloading capabilities via your MDM.

Ability to remotely fastener oregon hitch instrumentality data

If your employees ever usage their devices extracurricular of your offices, it’s indispensable that you tin remotely hitch information from and/or fastener them. The reasons for this spell beyond offboarding. A laptop is stolen each 53 seconds, and a mislaid enactment laptop is estimated to outgo a concern implicit $49,000.

Offboarding distant employees is not arsenic elemental arsenic asking them to wide their desks and permission their enactment devices behind. An worker retains possession of their enactment instrumentality until you tin cod it, which could instrumentality weeks if they’re located successful a hard-to-reach region, oregon connection is slow.

If you person the quality to remotely hitch your devices, you tin hitch institution information arsenic soon arsenic your employee’s declaration is terminated.

About the author: Sami Bouremoum is the CEO of Hofy. Prior to founding Hofy, Sami led maturation absorption and territory enlargement astatine Samsara (a16Z unicorn), moving connected the logistics and operational issues associated with scaling teams crossed geographies. Sami besides worked astatine Bain successful absorption consulting and has a PhD from University College London successful Computer Science.