WORK-from-anywhere (WFA) model have greatly expanded in South Africa in recent weeks, as loadshedding forces remote workers to seek power from a multitude of sources, in malls and coffee shops, meaning they may be alternating between mobile phones, tablets and laptops across any number of potentially unsecured public Wi-Fi hotspots, according to cybersecurity company Fortinet.
The firm’s Regional Director Southern Africa Doros Hadjizenonos said that this mobility increased the cyber security risks presented by all these devices that were often poorly secured to begin with. “Smartphones, in particular, have become a critical part of the remote workforce toolkit. They are such an integral part of each person’s daily routine, people may regard them as trusted and safe. As a channel to your personal data, banking and accounts, and a link to your work and business data, smartphones drive cyber criminals directly to your pocket. As such, they may become the next big vector to hijack and weaponize in distributing attacks,” Hadjizenonos said.
The firm said that mobile cybersecurity threats mostly align with the common threats, including phishing and malware but they could also include mobile-specific issues such as application-based threats and device and OS-based exploits. Verizon’s Mobile Security Index 2021 found that while 71 percent of enterprises see mobile devices as critical to their business, 40 percent also see them as their company’s biggest security risk and 53 percent said the consequences they faced as a result of a mobile device-related security compromise were major. Moreover, the survey found that 93 percent of Android® devices were running an out-of-date version of the OS, and 49 percent of workers allowed their family or friends to use their work devices.
Hadjizenonos said that ass an endpoint in the corporate network, the mobile device needed to be secured with strong PINs, passwords and even biometric logins such as facial recognition and fingerprint scanners. “Multi-factor authentication is an authentication method that protects individuals and organizations by requiring users to provide two or more authentication factors to access an application, account, or virtual private network (VPN). This adds extra layers of security to combat more sophisticated cyberattacks even after credentials or identities have been stolen, exposed, or sold by third parties.”
Fortinet said that as a key part of the work-from-anywhere (WFA) strategy, mobile devices also needed to be protected within a Zero Trust model, which stipulated that trust should be explicitly derived from a mix of identity and context-based aspects. It said that further, zero trust network access (ZTNA) provided per-user access to specific applications, far surpassing implicit trust when it comes to security. Every device, user, and application could be seen and controlled regardless of where they were connecting from. Implementing a zero trust model provided by ZTNA ensured that whenever a user or device requests access to a resource, they were verified before access is given.
Hadjizenonos said that by unifying Fortinet’s broad portfolio of zero trust, endpoint, and network security solutions within the Fortinet Security Fabric, Fortinet delivered security, services, and threat intelligence that seamlessly followed users whether on the road, at home, or in the office to provide enterprise-grade protection and productivity. “These capabilities–designed for the way business is done in the Work-from-Anywhere Era.”
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