Sophos helps businesses embrace BYOD
Sophos announced the latest version of its mobile device management (MDM) solution, Sophos Mobile Control 2.5. With an updated web-based administrative console and new feature set, it provides a simple way to bring BYOD into the enterprise.
Sophos Mobile Control 2.5 has optimized workflows, so IT administrators can complete many common tasks in just one click. It also offers easy integration with existing IT infrastructure by supporting the use of directories, such as Active Directory, to automatically assign newly-registered devices to existing groups and apply the associated policies to them.
The interface includes detailed graphical reports to assist IT administrators in managing all aspects of mobile devices, offering them insight into which devices require updating, and ensuring that all devices are secure.
“BYOD is top of mind for myriad organisations; however, it’s causing some concern among IT. The increase in personal devices accessing the network may complicate the process of ensuring devices are secure and compliant with company policies, making it difficult for IT to justify broad BYOD acceptance,” said Stacy K. Crook, senior analyst, Mobile Enterprise Research, IDC. “Solutions with features like those found in the latest version of Sophos Mobile Control allow organisations to develop BYOD strategies without compromising on security, or complicating the overall management of the network.”
It is increasingly difficult to manage employees’ mobile devices through self-service portals because employees often are unable to access the internet. Sophos’ new mobile client interface includes a compliance tab, which provides the device’s compliance status, reasons for non-compliance and any actions the user needs to resolve the issue, thereby alleviating the need for IT help. The user can also access their current compliance status and a list of issues in the self-service portal.
Sophos Mobile Control 2.5 offers improved risk mitigation, such as allowing IT to remotely conduct a corporate wipe of a device if an employee leaves the company or remains non-compliant with security policies. The support for iOS-managed apps allows the company to tie their corporate or compulsory apps to their MDM solution and to push them to the employee device. These apps, as well as any associated data, can be deleted directly from the admin console.
In addition, if it a mobile device becomes non-compliant, the new release will alert IT, so the administrator can send messages to the user for minor violations. For more serious incidents, the administrator can configure a set of tasks, which will be applied automatically. Examples include corporate or full wipes as well as policy changes to avert any risk for corporate data.