Why You Need an EMM Solution

Just a few years ago, in 2016, Belgian researchers Mathy Vanhoef and Frank Piessens discovered something that absolutely rocked the wireless security world: They found that a set of flaws in how Wi-Fi was originally designed in the late 1990s have been giving attackers access to nearly every Wi-Fi-enabled mobile device on the planet ever since.

These flaws expose users to multiple security threats, including the more recent FRAG attacks and KRACKs. (FRAG is short for fragmentation and aggregation attacks; KRACK is short for key reinstallation attacks), among others.

What Vanhoef and Piessens found means that anyone using an unprotected network/device is vulnerable to an attack that could potentially exfiltrate data from and compromise their devices. Usernames, passwords, sensitive customer data...it’s all available to hackers who know how to cheat the system.

Despite the seriousness of the threat, Vanhoef says the “fix” is relatively simple: Corporations can protect their data (and their customers’ data) from these and other attacks just by keeping their devices updated.

Are Your Devices Up To Date?

Your devices are susceptible to FRAG attacks and KRACKs if they’re not up-to-date with the latest security patches. Older hardware that doesn't have the most current security patches are the most vulnerable; as you’d expect, the older a device is, the more likely it is that its manufacturer no longer issues patches. In some cases, these devices haven’t been updated for several years because they’ve reached end of life, and without question they should be retired...immediately.

Newer devices that are unpatched are just as open to attacks, though, and the only way to properly protect them is by patching, each and every time a new one is available.

Patches are critical, and just one component of a bigger security strategy for organizations using mobile devices. The first step in a strategy is to develop a mobility policy—something that establishes guidelines around who gets a device and how they’re to be used (and not used). Once those guidelines are set, it’s time to apply and enforce them across the organization, and throughout the lifecycle of the device. To do that, you need an enterprise mobility management solution (EMM).

An EMM is a set of processes and technology—and people—focused on managing mobile devices, wireless networks, and related services. With a proven EMM solution in place, you’re taking all the right steps, at the right times, to protect your organization’s networks and firewalls, secure data on devices and storage media, protect information in transit, monitor access, secure lost or stolen devices, and audit and monitor user and admin activity. It also enables the team to stay abreast of important changes in technology, and to be fully prepared for emerging security threats.

We detail all of this—how FRAG attacks and KRACKs work, the process of patching, the components of a smart mobility policy, and the features and benefits of best-in-class EMM solutions—in our whitepaper, Why You Need an Enterprise Mobility Security Strategy and How to Build It. To learn more, just click the link below and a copy is yours!