Remote Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions help companies manage and secure connected devices for remote workers

Today’s organizations face new challenges maintaining security and identity. New changes in the current environment have led to an increase in remote work and more bring your own device (BYOD) where they may not have existed before. In this environment, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is essential to managing your organization’s mobile devices.

BYOD risks

Bringing your own device is a large portion of the need for MDM. Employees have different hardware providers and varied operating systems, which can be difficult to manage. You will need a centralized solution for effective visibility and management. Furthermore, because more people are working from home, more employees may be using their own devices now. The risk is that you don’t know what vulnerabilities employees are bringing on to your network with their devices — and you don’t want your employee’s device to be the launching point for an attack on your network.

For example, someone in your workforce could be using a Windows XP laptop with outdated software, or an outdated and unpatched mobile device. They may use it to access corporate web resources or even the corporate VPN. But the machine may be vulnerable, and simple network access may allow it to be found and compromised because it’s so old and outdated. A hacker could effectively access whatever that computer or VPN can access. It could also lead to additional exposure in your enterprise depending on any additional vulnerabilities a hacker could find in other layers of your network and applications.

Manage mobile devices remotely

PKI can solve the access and identity portion of MDM management. MDM can give you control over devices and the security profile and level of access for device users. And you can do that remotely, from wherever you are in the world. The combination of MDM for management and PKI for highly secure access controls and identity is unmatched.

Control and secure remote access

You will probably want multi-factor-authentication or even PKI for secure login. And if a device joins your VPN, you want to be able to have control over the device remotely. Remote device control provides you the ability to manage what is on that device, how it accesses your network and resources, and who can use it.

Mobile device authentication

DigiCert offers strong authentication for websites through digital certificates to prevent man-in-the middle attacks, ensure identity and control access. We can do the same thing for access to VPN and WiFi networks. Most security professionals agree that a username and password is not a strong enough method of authentication for enterprise IT assets. But digital certificates can almost be considered to be like very strong (unguessable) passwords (that are cryptographically proven). They provide strong authentication for system and network access.

DigiCert also has certificates to allow a device to identify itself, which ensures that the identity of a device is known, and that a network can attest to the authenticity of that device. This furthers your control of who and what has access to your resources, and in what manner.

The benefits of BYOD are that employees can work from anywhere, at any time, with any device. But managing the pool of devices connected to your corporate network is a pressing and growing challenge, with serious risks if not handled correctly. MDM and PKI can help your current remote workforce and better equip you for the growing trend of mobile.