Continuity planning is a key part of every business, and security should be an important part of that. After all if disaster strikes, the last thing you want is to attract a cyberattack from opportunists. Strategies should be in place that enable people to continue to work and communicate, ideally, using systems that are already familiar.
Widespread flexible working practices means that for many organisations, people can simply work from home for a few days, or even a few weeks, should the need arise. However, for some, the work they do relies on face to face conversations. This can be due to personal nature of the conversations they have such as in the healthcare profession where doctor/patient confidentiality is an issue, or in the legal profession where sensitive negotiations need to take place face to face, or because of the security/covert nature of the work. In all these cases, when a conversation with someone in the same room simply isn’t possible, it is critical that people have a reliable and secure means of communication to carry on business as usual.
If and when disaster strikes, staff need the most appropriate tools for the job, even if using their own devices. While routinely allowing staff to use their own devices for reasons of convenience is good for productivity and continuity, the use of unmanaged devices also opens up the business to a whole range of security risks and unsafe or unregulated working practices. A prime example is the use of consumer grade apps for business use, which is insecure and does not comply with GDPR regulations, as we explain here: https://www.armourcomms.com/2020/02/06/using-consumer-apps-for-business-use-is-illegal/?cat-slug=10
Here are five immediate benefits of using a specialist app to ensure that confidential conversations stay that way.
Five Benefits of Enterprise Grade Secure Communications
Protect all sensitive data – including metadata – It’s about more than just encryption. Enterprise-grade apps have a lot more sophisticated security features than simply encrypting your messages. Meta-data (details of who you called, where you made the call, how long you talked, for example) is also protected, and remains under your complete control (either on your premises or in our secure cloud).
Secure collaboration and increased productivity- Voice, Video, Conference, Attachments, Group Messaging. All the elements that enable you and your colleagues to collaborate productivity, knowing that your sensitive corporate information is fully secured
Limit the life of time sensitive information – with Message Burn messages, documents, videos can all be timed to self-delete (burn) after a set time. This is set by the sender and can be a set time after the message has been sent, or after it has been read.
Optional Audit Trail – For regulated industries, conversations can be audited, so even when using their own devices, staff are still compliant for business operations.
Fast One-click Provisioning – Users are able to download the app from the appropriate app store, and then approved by IT/Security with just one click. The app can be decommissioned equally as fast should a device be lost or compromised, or a staff member leave the organisation.
Armour has a range of solutions designed to meet most use cases. These include CPA/NATO/NCSC certified apps, a choice of 128 or 256 bit encryption, with or without audit capabilities that run on most off the shelf smartphones, and Win 10/MacOS desktops.
For more information on Armour Mobile, SigNet by Armour, or Medicomms by Armour contact us today.
