Move to home working created vulnerabilities in organisations of all sizes

Cybersecurity awareness has reached new levels in Ireland in the wake of the HSE ransomware attack.

“The threat is always there but it’s getting more attention now and that’s a good thing,” says Ciara O’Reilly, head of product, propositions and operations at Three Ireland.

“Most people are now familiar with ransomware and different forms of malware. But there have also been a number of distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks on internet service providers over the past number of weeks that people may not be aware of.”

But awareness has to translate into action. “As technology advances, security has to move with it,” she points out. “It’s not a question of will we or won’t we. It’s how quick can we do it. And it’s very important to include the entire estate of devices.”

According to O’Reilly, the sudden move to home working last year created vulnerabilities in organisations of all sizes. “In the rush to get employees set up for home working last year, mobile security may not have been front of mind. However, as cybercrime continues to increase, securing employees’ mobile devices has never been more important. Company laptops are generally well protected but mobile is changing all the time, and often employers may not be aware of the potential risk presented by mobile and tablet devices.”

Indeed, familiarity may well have bred some complacency. “Sometimes mobile devices can actually pose a greater risk because people tend to forget about them. We use them every day and they are so powerful and valuable that people can forget about the volume of data contained on them. That makes them very dangerous. There are good protections on those devices, but you still need an extra bit of security. Remote working has been great, but the security implications are very serious.”

Mistakes

And all employees need to be on their guard. “Hackers are like scammers,” says O’Reilly. “They are always looking to distract people and get them to make mistakes. One example is a text that looks like it has come from your local GAA club asking you to click on a link to check the Covid precautions in place. Before you know it you have opened your phone and the hacker has access to your telephone banking service, your contacts, your email and so on. What’s particularly attractive to hackers on the mobile is the number of platforms they get access to including voice, text, data, and WhatsApp.”

She points to other lesser known examples as well. “People may not realise that their microphone has been compromised. Hackers could be listening into board meetings and eavesdropping on sensitive conservations. Also, highly confidential data on the location and movement of the device and its user could be sold on. The risks are huge.”

Dealing with these risks can present problems for SMEs who do not have the resources to hire a dedicated cybersecurity executive. “They need something or somebody to do it for them.”

And that’s where 3Mobile Protect comes in. The simple to use security solution protects mobile devices from phishing and malware, and prevents data loss on company smartphones and tablets.

“What businesses are looking for is something to stop ransomware and malware,” says O’Reilly. “After that they are looking for remote lock and wipe facilities. And the other thing they want is the ability to control and manage the usage of the mobile devices.

“The 3Mobile Protect solution offers all of that. It ticks all the boxes for businesses from a cyber perspective. It provides threat protection as well as monitoring and reports to show what’s been identified, blocked, what devices have been quarantined and so on.”

Critically important is the fact that 3Mobile Protect operates locally on the mobile devices. “It doesn’t interfere with the performance of the device, and it only collects security critical data. No personal data is shared.”

Dashboard

And it couldn’t be easier to set up. Once an organisation signs up for the service it’s simply a matter of downloading the app from the Play Store or the Appstore. After that configurations and other settings can be managed on a simple to use dashboard.

“That’s a big attraction. One of our customers is a school in the midlands which had suffered a phishing attack. The speed and simplicity of set up were big factors for them. We’re getting a lot of take-up for it from businesses of all sizes and across all sectors, particularly those in the health and social care area where they have a lot of sensitive personal data to protect.”