The Complete Zero-Trust Mobile Security Manual for CISOs

Posted on February 13, 2024February 13, 2024 by Symmetrium Team

The surge of remote and hybrid work has skyrocketed mobile device usage in businesses. While offering flexibility, they create a vast attack surface for cyber threats. Blending personal and work devices further exposes sensitive data to risks like unsecured networks, malware, and lost/stolen devices. Enforcing consistent security across various locations and devices adds another layer of complexity.

Zero Trust: The New Security Paradigm

Traditional perimeter-based security, with its “trust but verify” approach, is struggling in today’s interconnected world. Zero trust represents a fundamental shift in enterprise security where no user, device, or network component is inherently trusted. It assumes a breach is imminent or ongoing, emphasizing continuous verification and strict access controls, both inside and outside the network.

Implementing Zero-Trust Mobile Security

Zero trust has to be proactive, especially with the rise of remote workers and third-party contractors. Here are key best practices:

1. Continuous Authentication & Authorization: Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) and adaptive access controls to verify user identity, device health, and context before granting access.

2. Network Segmentation & Micro-Perimeters: Divide the network into isolated segments for different users/devices, limiting lateral movement and minimizing breach impact.

3. Data-Centric Security: Encrypt data at rest and in transit. Use data loss prevention (DLP) to control sensitive data movement.

4. Behavioral Analytics & Monitoring: Detect anomalies and suspicious activities on devices. Track device behavior, network traffic, and user interactions for real-time threat detection.

5. Endpoint Protection & Mobile Device Management (MDM): Implement robust endpoint protection and leverage MDM for granular device control, remote wipe capabilities, and policy enforcement.

6. Employee Training & Awareness: Educate employees on security best practices, recognizing phishing attempts, and reporting suspicious activities. Foster a culture of security awareness.

7. Regular Audits & Assessments: Identify vulnerabilities, evaluate security controls, and ensure compliance with industry standards.

8. Integration & Automation: Integrate various security tools for a unified ecosystem. Automate processes to streamline security, enhance response times, and reduce human error.

9. Adaptability & Evolution: Continuously improve and adapt to evolving threats. Stay informed about emerging technologies, threats, and best practices to refine your mobile security strategy.

Challenges & Considerations

Despite its promise of increased protection and resilience against cyber threats, establishing a zero-trust mobile environment presents numerous challenges and considerations that organizations must carefully navigate, such as:

1. Balancing User Experience vs. Security: Finding the right balance between stringent security and a seamless user experience is crucial.

2. Device Diversity & BYOD Policies: Managing diverse devices, operating systems, and security configurations under BYOD policies adds complexity.

3. Integration & Interoperability: Integrating various security solutions and ensuring seamless interoperability requires meticulous planning and execution.

4. Third-Party Integration & Supply Chain Security: Extending zero trust to third-party integrations and supply chain partners presents additional considerations.

5. Regulatory Compliance & Legal Implications: Adhering to regulations while implementing zero trust is crucial.

6. Cultural Shift & User Awareness: Educating employees about the “never trust, always verify” principle is essential. Resistance to change and lack of awareness can impede adoption.

7. Resource & Expertise Constraints: Deploying and managing zero-trust architectures requires specialized skills and resources.

8. Complexity in Monitoring & Analysis: Managing and analyzing vast amounts of data generated by mobile devices can be complex.

9. Scalability & Adaptability: Ensuring scalability and adaptability to accommodate organizational growth and evolving threat landscapes is vital.

Addressing the Challenges: A Different Approach

Implementing and managing zero-trust environments can be daunting. While most solutions focus on securing the devices, this exposes data when it moves outside the secure network to reside on the mobile devices accessing it.

To address the vulnerability of diverse endpoints and the inherent risk of exposing sensitive data outside the secure corporate network, Symmetrium created an innovative zero-trust data mobile access solution. This unique approach transforms all mobile devices into secure virtual extensions of an organization’s network, prioritizing compliance, security, and IT protocols.

Symmetrium achieves this by creating virtual mobile devices (VMDs) that remain within the organization’s network perimeter. Through peer-to-peer encrypted streaming, authorized users can securely access and view data without the need to transfer it to external devices. This ‘no data at rest’ methodology significantly reduces the risk of data breaches.

Offering a seamless transition to a secure zero-trust environment, Symmetrium’s solution eliminates the need for a complete technology overhaul. By adopting VMDs, organizations can uphold existing enterprise security protocols while effectively safeguarding data and resources. In a dynamic landscape where data and employees extend beyond traditional perimeters, Symmetrium’s VMDs embody the essence of a zero-trust approach — ensuring robust data security without compromising productivity.

Are you ready to reevaluate your approach to zero-trust mobile security? Experience the power of Symmetrium firsthand by scheduling a demo today.

2023: The Year of Mobile Data Protection

Posted on December 13, 2023December 13, 2023 by Symmetrium Team

The full-time return to office work has been declared dead. While this most likely has pleased most employees, Chief Security Officers (CSOs) and their teams will be less than ecstatic. They know remote working increases the possibility of security attacks and data breaches. And with the growing use of mobile expanding their attack surface, they are finding out firsthand that current solutions, relying on VPNs and user IDs, for example, are simply not enough.

The resulting data breaches and attacks can be costly and damaging to organizations, exposing them to reputational damage and significant fines. Over 2023, the healthcare and financial sectors both paid a heavy price for data breaches. In fact, according to research by Proxyrack, the average cost of a data breach incident in healthcare is estimated at $9.23 million — the highest of any industry surveyed. The financial sector comes in second, with an average cost of $5.27 million.

Industries subject to rigorous regulation, like healthcare and finance, are encountering growing challenges with staff’s usage of applications, such as WhatsApp and Slack, for file sharing. This practice can violate stringent regulations pertaining to data confidentiality and security.

To tackle these growing concerns surrounding mobile data security, Symmetrium focused on upgrading its offering during 2023 to directly address and provide a solution to the security flaws CSOs were encountering.

Here are the standout highlights:

An Instant Messaging (IM) and SMS Data Protection Solution

With messaging apps now commonplace in the work environment, Symmetrium released its unique IM and SMS suite. This innovation empowers organizations to promptly counter these security risks by implementing Virtual Mobile Devices (VDMs) within their network.

Symmetrium’s VDMs offer users dedicated work mobile numbers, serving as unique identifiers, all without requiring separate physical devices. This shields employees against SMS phishing (Smishing), actively preventing fraudulent activities and malicious links by meticulously scanning every message. It seamlessly integrates with existing email security tools to ensure secure message delivery to end users.

The solution also addresses compliance concerns by efficiently capturing and storing all work-related messages, establishing an agentless IM and SMS archive. This capability enables organizations to consistently meet the stringent regulatory data requirements imposed on their specific sector.

Creating a True Zero-Trust Solution to Reduce Attack-Surface Area

To limit the amount of touch points to public networks, Symmetrium delivered a cutting-edge zero-trust data mobile access solution. This facilitates productive collaboration while significantly reducing the attack-surface area and the chances of data breaches.

To maintain a secure and private zero-trust environment for data, while minimizing external touch points to the internet, Symmetrium uses its groundbreaking VMDs. These reside within the organization’s network, so when accessed by employees remotely via their mobile phones or laptops, they serve as extensions of the company’s comprehensive security and compliance policies.

By leveraging end-to-end encrypted streaming, these VMDs ensure a seamless, completely native mobile experience with effortless deployment and management. Sensitive data is accessed virtually and therefore at no time sits on the user’s actual device. The result is a true zero-trust environment, a radically reduced attack surface to ensure that data remains secure and is never put at risk.

Upgrading to Support 5G Networks to Deliver Security and Speed

During 2023, Symmetirum upgraded its streaming technology to support 5G networks. This uses AWS Wavelength Zones to enable organizations deploying Symmetrium’s high-performance Virtual Mobile Devices to benefit from a near real-time experience.

AWS Wavelength integrates the high bandwidth and ultralow latency capabilities of 5G networks with AWS compute and storage services. So, rather than using the public internet, AWS Wavelength Zones enable users to have a telco-grade connection between the cloud and the telco, and between the device and the telco. This shortens the overall time point-to-point, providing a super fast native experience for Symmetrium’s users.

Revolutionizing Zero-Trust Capabilities for Mobile Devices

In the quest for zero trust, Symmetrium’s provision of Virtual Mobile Devices functioning within the organization’s network perimeter, coupled with P2P encrypted streaming, guarantees data security without storing data on external devices. This innovative approach negates the necessity for extensive technological overhauls, enabling seamless integration of Symmetrium into existing infrastructure.

In 2024 Symmetrium will continue to empower organizations to confidently confront zero-trust challenges, facilitating a secure digital transformation. Organizations implementing Symmetrium will shield their data from both established and emerging security threats, including spyware, thereby enabling them to maintain a competitive edge in today’s dynamic landscape.

Safeguard your workspaces by establishing a genuine zero-trust environment for your mobile devices. Schedule a demo with Symmetrium today.

How a Defence Agency Deployed Symmetrium to Secure its Reserve Units’ Members Access to Sensitive Data

Posted on February 8, 2023September 13, 2024 by Symmetrium Team

The rollout of Symmetrium ensures the highly confidential data reserve members access remotely never leaves the security of the agency’s network and therefore never resides on external devices.

Allowing access to confidential information to empower collaboration and data sharing forced a major rethink by a defense agency in Israel. This was not a problem for its full-time staff, who were only authorized to view this data securely from within the organizational IT network through approved and authorized devices. The big concern was how it could guarantee the same levels of security when giving access to its reserve members, which numbered in the tens of thousands and used their own private devices.

These reserves are in essence third-party contractors that routinely require access to confidential data and systems within the defense agency’s IT network. Third-party vendors are known as the weakest link in enterprise security, and these reserve members were identified as a significant vulnerability.

Vulnerability Due to Use of Non-Secure Instant Messaging Apps

While most of the agency’s communication is already digital, access to confidential data for reserves was restricted to physical access. This is because it had no solution to maintain its security posture when dealing with reserve members accessing network data using their own devices. Each reserve member is a private individual who from time to time is called to be a part of the agency’s activities. They have their own private device and these are often managed by their employer. Supplying each reservist with a secure and approved device was not practical from a logistical perspective.

The result was that reserve commanders were communicating with their peers and soldiers over open instant messaging apps without taking into account the confidentiality and security requirements of the defense agency.

A solution was required that allowed the defense agency to seamlessly manage third-party access in a Bring Your Own Device environment allowing reservists to:

Access a secured data sharing system
Seamlessly comply with all confidential data requirements
Collaborate in a zero-trust digital environment
Create a total separation between their virtual workspace and their personal device

Creating a Minimum-Resources Mobile Management Environment

Symmetrium was the ideal solution as it does not rely on the user profile, device, network or hardware to make sure that the confidentiality of military data is maintained in line with national security requirements.

It sits protected within the perimeter of an organization’s network, adhering to all existing enterprise network security protocols. It can be fully on-prem or in the cloud — the organization decides where. The Symmetrium server is managed from here via a control panel that creates virtual mobile devices (VMDs) as needed.

These VMDs are hosted on a second Symmetrium server, again deployed inside the organization’s network, which uses P2P encrypted streaming to allow authorized external devices to view data via a portal. This view-only data never leaves the protected organizational network and therefore is never transferred to an external device. This ensures the data at all times remains secure. This helps to reduce and minimize the attack surface, because the assets are not publicly accessible over the internet.

A Fast, Secure Solution for Data Access for Reserve Units

The defense agency has begun the rollout with high ranking reserve soldiers in one platoon with the setup of 100 VMDs, which will quickly grow up to 10,000 devices as the project expands. It took just three days to set up the entire infrastructure within the agency’s IT network to allow the data to be shared through one portal, with all access managed through the Symmetrium app.

The defense agency’s IT team is now able to create a single virtual device in less than five minutes without any support from the Symmetrium team. This includes assigning it to reserve unit members during their specific service period.

Reservists use a username and password to access the virtual device via a secure portal using their personal phone. While at present they have their two-factor authentication if needed in the future they could also activate biometric authentication (using an eye scan) for an extra layer of authentication.

If an authorized user (for example, one whose reserve duty has ended) tries to use his phone’s native browser and not using the Symmetrium app installed on their device to access the reserve portal, the data will not be visible.

The Result: An Easy-to-Manage Zero-Trust Environment

The defense agency now benefits from the creation of an easy-to-manage zero-trust environment, which automatically adheres to all existing network security protocols, reducing the headache for its CIO and IT department, saving time, money and resources.

If there are any violations, such as a reservist or adversary capturing the screen of data, an alert will pop up in the Symmetrium management console. This console also allows administrators to block or allow specific requests for specific users, and change the information they are approved to access. It can also limit access to specific locations or specific networks. This is achieved regardless of the hardware being used to access the data.

Symmetrium’s minimum-resources mobile management solution has very light operational requirements and allows for the quick onboarding and offboarding of reserve users with one single app. This allows productive collaboration with reserves when they are serving with the defense agency, while dramatically minimizing the risk of data breaches.

Ultimately the complete roll out of Symmetrium will empower secure data sharing and collaboration among the agency’s tens of thousands of reservists.

Author: Symmetrium Team