Mobile data access and sharing is a great idea but one that comes with a lot of risk. The chance of unauthorized access, data loss, and data exposure are all increased when information stored in SharePoint is accessed from a mobile device. In the recent Aberdeen Analyst Insight, SharePoint Collaboration: Secure and Mobile, Derek Brink sheds some light on how organizations can ensure their SharePoint data is made more secure for mobile users.
Workers are demanding access to their work files from mobile devices, yet mobile devices are more susceptible to data breaches. Beside the fact that the devices themselves (and the data they contain) can be easily lost, the apps themselves are more difficult to secure. While malware targeting mobile devices is not as frequent as desktop OS, we can safely assume mobile devices will become the target or means to significant data theft in the near future.
Aberdeen found that organizations using SharePoint were among the most likely to use complementary, third party security tools to enhance those native to SharePoint, but that they were also among the worst at defining accountability for authorizing data access. Since access is the first step toward data security, it is essential that the matter of authorization be brought under control. Aberdeen found that nearly all organizations (97%) using SharePoint had a “policy” of leaving individual users responsible for determining access privileges for the unstructured data they create. Aberdeen suggests that classification be used to help with this problem.
Why?
Users will find identifying the sensitivity of a document and its value to the organization easier than managing its access in SharePoint. When a user classifies a document or file, TITUS adds metadata which can be leveraged to automatically apply security and access controls in SharePoint, ensuring content access policy is accurately maintained. Classification can also help with another key Aberdeen recommendation: user security training. Asking users to classify the information they access or create will keep data security top of mind. With TITUS’ simple to use interface, violation warnings, remediation suggestions and quick access to help, security policy training is constant.
With mobile access complicating the security picture, it is more important than ever to make it easy for users to get the fundamentals of information security right. By classifying data in SharePoint, users will no longer have to concern themselves with managing access rights. Rather, TITUS Classification metadata will inform SharePoint if the data matches the user profile in order to allow or deny access.
For more information on securing your organizations information in SharePoint, download the report today.
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