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.

Driving Down Total Cost of Ownership: The Ultimate Cost-Effective Mobile Data Protection Strategy

Posted on November 6, 2023November 6, 2023 by Omer Cohen

In the rapidly evolving landscape of enterprise mobility, ensuring robust security while managing mobile devices and the associated costs has become a crucial challenge.

Organizations, who build their strategy around company-issued devices, using solutions such as COPE (corporate-owned, personally enabled) have become all too aware that the concept of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) extends beyond the initial purchase price of a mobile device. It encompasses an array of expenses incurred throughout the device’s lifecycle – from acquisition and deployment to maintenance, support, and eventual decommissioning.

While Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) solves this initial outlay on the actual device, the management of multiple types of hardware and operating systems brings similar challenges and support costs to organizations who embrace this model.

Navigating the TCO of Mobile Data Protection

To optimally understand TCO these four key areas need to be understood in terms of their impact on the overall annual cost of implementing an effective MDM solution.

Device Cost

COPE: Solutions where the company pays for the device are obviously the most expensive. They face the upfront purchase cost, eventual replacement costs and all associated management and support costs over the lifetime of devices.

BYOD: While employees use their own devices, the organization may still need to provide subsidies, allowances, or reimbursements for device purchases or upgrades. This cost can vary depending on the organization’s BYOD policy.

PROBLEM: While COPE has a transparent upfront cost, BYOD cost can vary depending on the organization’s policy regarding stipends and reimbursements to employees who purchase their own device. Nonetheless, security professionals need to be aware that the initial costs of purchasing devices should not be the core driver of the decision-making process as support and maintenance costs will tend to have a greater impact on annual TCO.

Support and Maintenance Costs

COPE: As these devices are owned by the organization, the onus of their maintenance and monitoring squarely rests on the company’s shoulders. This places the full costs of support on the company.

BYOD: While organizations can save money implementing a BYOD, they will still need to onboard users, provide technical support and software updates to ensure maintained compatibility with the organization’s IT infrastructure. These support costs can easily equal those involved in the deployment of a COPE strategy.

PROBLEM: Device costs can be seen as the visible portion of an ice-berg (larger for COPE and smaller for BYOD), with the “below the waterline” non-visible support and maintenance costs generally the most expensive portion of MDM policies.

Security Measures

COPE: Implementing robust security measures, such as encryption and antivirus software, involves licensing fees and ongoing maintenance costs.

BYOD: As with COPE licensing fees and ongoing costs will be a feature, and need to be factored in for BYOD solutions.

PROBLEM: Implementing a BYOD solution to try and eliminate the initial outlay on devices has one major flaw. When it comes to security, 100% BYOD will never be as safe as 100% Company issued.

Finding the Right Balance Between Cost and Security

When an organization needs the most secure option they tend to invest in COPE solutions, even though this is the most expensive due to the investment in devices. BYOD is a cheaper, more flexible option, but will incur equally expensive support and maintenance costs, while compromising on security.

Organizations, however, that implement a BYOD solution can utilize Symmetrium’s minimum resources approach to radically reduce TCO while optimizing security. Symmetrium achieves this by creating virtual devices that reside within the organization’s own IT environment. When these are remotely accessed they are protected by end-to-end encrypted streaming and therefore act as extensions of all organizational security and compliance policies. As each mobile device acts as an on-prem laptop when connecting with data via Symmetrium, the data is protected from any risks associated with a BYOD device being used to access it.

The result is organizations can limit the TCO involved in managing BYOD mobile devices while being confident their data remains secure and protected, similar to COPE solutions, regardless of the device being used to access it.

The cost of maintaining security is minimized because using Symmetrium means data never comes to rest on devices outside of the organization’s IT environment. And because Symmetrium extends the security and compliance protocols of the organization’s network to any device used to access the network via Symmetrium it eliminates the need for encryption and antivirus software.

As Symmetrium is device agnostic, it can operate in both BYOD and COPE environments. The cost of support in these environments can be significantly reduced as troubleshooting and software updates are not as critical as the organizational network is accessed through Symmetrium and compatibility issues are practically eliminated.

The Most Effective Way to Reduce TCO and Eliminate Security Flaws

Symmetrium offers the lowest TCO when it comes to mobile data protection thanks to the vastly reduced impact of support and management costs. It achieves this while delivering the security level associated with company-issued devices with the flexibility and ease of management of BYOD.

This allows for the cost effective and efficient management of multiple devices, regardless of their brand or operating systems, with minimal resource allocation, thanks to a centralized management console. When looking to balance the optimum in mobile security with the minimum TCO, Symmetrium’s VMD provides the perfect solution.

Discover how easy it is to lower your mobile data protection TCO while optimizing your network security by booking a demo with Symmetrium here.

The Stealthy Menace of Spyware: How to Protect Your Workspaces

Posted on July 26, 2023September 13, 2024 by Omer Cohen

The remote work revolution has transformed the modern organization. Employees and third-party vendors now frequently access the corporate network from remote locations, giving far more flexibility to organizations regarding, when, where and who can access sensitive data. This, however, has come at a cost, leading to security vulnerabilities that result from enabling remote access to corporate networks.

The potential of this threat was underlined recently when spyware was discovered in over 100 Android applications, whose cumulative download count was more than 421 million on Google Play.

Dubbed ‘SpinOk’, by antivirus company Doctor Web, once the malicious module is installed on victims’ devices, it stealthily steals data and files.

An Omnipresent Threat

Sadly, the omnipresent threat of spyware is just another security threat that puts organizations at risk, compromising privacy, and potentially leading to severe data leaks and consequences.

Spyware works by infiltrating devices without user consent or knowledge. It can sneak in during software downloads from the internet, capitalizing on lengthy and convoluted licensing agreements that are commonly overlooked. It can also employ pop-up windows in web browsers to trick workers using their own devices into triggering a download. Once embedded, spyware operates discreetly in the background to steal sensitive information, such as login details, and data.

A total 39 percent of knowledge workers worldwide are forecast to be engaged in hybrid work by the close of 2023, according to Gartner. In the United States, this figure climbs even higher, with 51 percent of individuals adopting hybrid work arrangements, and an additional one-in-five identifying as fully remote employees.

However, remote employees are just one security concern. From suppliers to software and resourcing needs, businesses are increasingly turning to third-party contractors. According to Deloitte, over the past five years, the use of third-party vendors has increased exponentially. This is exposing them to increased security threats.

This means that for organizations the obstacles to achieving a true zero-trust environment will remain.

Vulnerabilities in Current Solutions

With a heavy burden placed on the healthcare sector to be HIPAA compliant, the first line of defense is to ensure devices include the necessary safeguards to guarantee against theft and data loss through the use of a robust layer of security.
HIPAA regulations also require that ePHI data must be encrypted when transmitted over a network. The most popular way of doing this is to create a VPN through which VDIs (virtual desktop infrastructure) can connect to the data, therefore negating the need for it to be encrypted. This however raises problems.

Usage can be limited because a user needs to make sure no one else is using the VDI. This means they have limited flexibility and can be more difficult to scale as needed. This can be a problem for organizations with fluctuating user numbers or those looking to implement a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy. There are also security concerns as users operating in a VDI environment can as easily click on a malicious link in an email or on a web page as someone using a physical desktop.

VDIs also require a heavy level of management and maintenance, which places a heavy burden for qualified IT staff where ongoing training and staff turnover can become problematic. To comply with HIPAA data encryption and data wiping tools may also need to be implemented and maintained. This can add to the management burden.

Addressing the Risks Posed by Remote Access

Employees operating beyond the confines of the corporate network, leveraging personal devices to connect with sensitive business data, expose organizations to heightened security vulnerabilities. This necessitates addressing the expanded stack of identities and endpoints, requiring a comprehensive approach to secure, protect, and manage this multifaceted ecosystem.

The core focus of securing remote access to corporate networks, implemented by most solutions, lies in managing the multitude of users and devices accessing sensitive data. By implementing robust solutions that facilitate increased cyber resiliency and remote access, organizations believe they can fortify their defenses. This entails mapping the intricate network of users and devices, enabling comprehensive visibility and control. Through this proactive management approach, organizations attempt to respond to emerging threats, ensuring that only authorized users and trusted devices gain access to sensitive data, regardless of their location or endpoint. This however is costly, resource intensive and has inherent security flaws.

The Solution to Remote Access Security Concerns

The problem with existing security strategies and solutions is that they focus on protecting devices and people, rather than a sharp focus on protecting the data. They also tend to require significant technology infrastructure upgrades or additions to implement the required secure zero-trust environment.

Symmetrium revolutionizes this current approach by offering a device-agnostic low-resource solution that enables organizations to maintain their existing information and security technology infrastructure (and protocols?), while focusing on securing an organization’s data.

This is achieved through the creation of virtual mobile devices (VMDs) that reside within the organization’s network perimeter, and integrate with established enterprise security protocols.

Authorized remote and third-party users can securely access data using their own devices through Symmetrium’s VMDs. Leveraging P2P encrypted streaming, these VMDs enable users to view data without transferring it to external devices. This view-only functionality ensures that sensitive data never leaves the secure organizational network.

By maintaining data within the protected perimeter, Symmetrium guarantees that information remains secure, mitigating the risk of data compromise or unauthorized access.

A Game-Changing Zero-Trust Solution

As organizations prioritize the implementation of zero trust, Symmetrium emerges as a game-changing solution. By offering virtual mobile devices that operate within the organization’s network perimeter and leveraging P2P encrypted streaming, Symmetrium ensures data remains secure and never comes to rest on external devices. This approach eliminates the need for extensive technology replacements, allowing organizations to seamlessly integrate Symmetrium within their existing infrastructure.

With Symmetrium, organizations can confidently navigate the challenges of zero trust and embrace secure digital transformation, safeguarding their data against existing and emerging security threats, such as spyware, and maintaining a competitive edge in today’s evolving landscape.

Protect your workspaces from the ever-present threat of Spyware by creating a true zero-trust environment. Book a demo with Symmetrium here.

The Challenges in Creating a Secure Zero Trust Environment

Posted on January 12, 2023September 13, 2024 by Inbal Meshulam

Most organizations will struggle to implement and securely manage zero-trust environments, due to the many challenges involved, without the adoption of Symmetrium’s Virtual Mobile Device solution.

The traditional perimeter of organizational networks has been obliterated by the rise of remote work and SaaS services, forcing the implementation of zero-trust environments. This is necessary to cope with the unprecedented growth in endpoints and data sources operating beyond the confines of the traditional organizational network.

Zero trust provides a more comprehensive approach to security than traditional methods. The core principle of zero trust is to trust nothing and verify everything. This means that all users, devices, apps, software and data both inside the network and outside must be verified and protected. Organizations can therefore, in principal, mitigate the attack surface nefarious actors target to steal data, compromise passwords and other malicious activities.

Problems Implementing Zero Trust

While zero trust is a key strategic focus for most organizations to reduce risk, according to Gartner, very few organizations have completed the scope of their zero-trust implementations.

Many of the associated challenges to implementing a true zero-trust environment are linked to the hybrid work culture, which has become a significant obstacle in securing this model. With more employees working outside the boundaries of the corporate network, using their own devices to connect to sensitive business data, security vulnerabilities have spiked.

The use of non-secured mobile devices has resulted in an entire stack of identities and end-points that require a full set of resources to continuously secure, protect and manage it. This requires mapping how users and their devices access and interact with sensitive data. Solutions focus on managing these users and devices to help increase cyber resiliency and remote access.

Zero Trust’s Fundamental Flaw

This exposes a fundamental flaw in their approach — a focus on users and devices, and not on data. So once users are granted access the data they access using their mobile comes to rest on that device. Thus the data is no longer in the secure confines of the corporate network environment and is exposed and vulnerable on the device it is now residing on.

Security will always be maximized when there is no data at rest and therefore no data at risk. This is how Symmetrium, a zero-trust data mobile access solution, enables productive collaboration while dramatically minimizing the risk of data breaches. It achieves this by turning any mobile device, managed or unmanaged, into a virtual extension of an organization’s network, with all its compliance, security, and IT.

The Only True Zero-Trust Approach

Using Symmetrium means organizations don’t have to ditch and replace technology to implement a secure zero-trust environment. This is because Symmetrium creates virtual mobile devices (VMDs) that sit protected within the perimeter of an organization’s network and therefore adheres to all existing enterprise network security protocols.

These VMDs use P2P encrypted streaming to allow authorized remote and third party users to view data using their own devices. 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 and never comes to rest on external devices.

With zero trust now vital for organizations to survive digital transformation it is critical to overcome the associated challenges. In a world where data, resources and employees are outside the enterprise perimeter, the only true zero-trust approach is to ensure “no data at rest” and Symmetrium’s VMDs are the perfect solution to make this happen.

Category: Zero-trust Security