Because of you, your phone is your weakness

If your communication is sensitive or you have access to confidential data from your phone, you may think that your phone is your weakness. And you'll be right because mobile devices are the weakest link in security according to the latest Tech Pro Research survey of chief information officers, technology executives, and IT employees. But what if I told you it's mostly because of you?

There's no argument that these days organizations are having a really hard time managing multiple devices, protecting data, securing networks, and training employees to take security seriously. Securing mobile devices is extremely tricky. Android is a highly fragmented OS, and Apple’s iOS isn't a panacea either. Employees' devices get lost or stolen all the time. Toss in people bringing their own unsupported devices to work and you can see why security experts are so stressed.

Meanwhile, the risk of mobile attacks continues to grow. In July, comScore reported that half of all digital time was spent on mobile apps, and 68% percent of the time was spent on a mobile device. If mobile security isn’t a problem for you yet, it will be.

Still in doubt that your phone is your weakness?

Consider these recent events:

• A flaw called Quadrooter left over 900 MILLION Android devices vulnerable to attacks, and the code was published online
• Pokémon Go became a global hit but many people downloaded the game from unauthorized marketplaces, exposing their devices to hidden malware
• Researchers at Binghamton University found that wearable devices and smartwatches can give away PINs and passwords through an algorithm that has 80% accuracy on the first try and 90% after only three attempts.

In fact, you are the real weakest link

However, mobile devices themselves aren't the real weakest security spot. They only become dangerous when they get into users' hands.

In a July report on mobile security, Tech Pro Research noted that mobile devices are breached largely because people lose them or don’t practice good security habits — not because of inherently weak security in devices. In other words, most corporate mobile security incidents are due to people failing to follow basic security procedures.

The solution is following security best practices, encrypting and protecting data, and educating users — the real weakest link.

The best protection involves minimizing the human factor

So what can you do to get the best protection while still allowing people to actually use their mobile devices? The answer is Secure Phone. This is our flagship product line of highly secure smartphones, developed around the concept of the perfect combination of security, privacy, and user experience.

But Secure Phone isn't just a phone, and that's the big trick. Yes, it comes in the form of a high-end smartphone with an Android-based Secure OS and custom-built apps for end-to-end encrypted communication over email, chat, and voice, as well as apps for productivity and security. However, what works behind every Secure Phone is what really minimizes the human factor: the Secure Phone Administration System (SAS).

Protect your security from yourself

SAS is our exclusive mobile device management (MDM) system that can remotely control Secure Phone to the tiniest detail. To provide this, it supports four main types of policies:

• Device policy — remotely set up and manage Secure Phone's hardware features, e. g. location, USB, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, camera, etc.
• OS policy — remotely set up and manage Secure Phone's operating system, e. g. what OS version should the phone run, should it get updates, etc.
• App policy — remotely control which apps are available to Secure Phone
• Software policy — remotely set up and control the features of the apps installed on Secure Phone (works only with apps developed by Secure Group)

When any of these policies are pushed to a Secure Phone, it can't be rejected or modified from the phone. In other words, you can perfectly shield your Secure Phone and prevent yourself from screwing up while using the phone in the future.

Of course, you don't need to do all of this by yourself. You can if you want, but you can also assign the SAS part to an administrator you trust. This way you will only use the Secure Phone as an out-of-the-box product, while your administrator will customize it through policies so it remains both perfectly usable and really secure.