The increase in wearable technology has substantially increased over the past couple of years. People are doing a better job of tracking their health and using wearable technology to improve their work lives. This creates a problem for the business because every device brought onto a network is a potential threat. It is therefore important to manage these threats. Find out how people are using wearable technology and what you can do about it!
Wearable Technology
Wearable technology typically refers to the use of fitness trackers or smart jewelry. However, it can extend into innovative new technologies such as virtual reality headsets. Businesses must consider smartwatch access to networks via Wi-Fi or employees’ phones.
What is crucial is data security inside a business environment. Some wearables may not meet business compliance standards like HIPAA. More than that, since these devices get push notifications, they have some potential vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. Unfortunately, these devices often have a limited UI, making it difficult for organizations to improve the data security of the applications pushing communications to wearable technology.
What You Need to Do to Ensure Wearables Don’t Pose Security Risks
The first thing you need to do when you have people bringing devices onto your business’ network is to concoct a reliable Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. This will help to define how these devices can be used within the confines of a workplace. Many organizations have built their BYOD policy with smartphones in mind, but it is important that any BYOD policy is revised to cover the appearance of other Internet-connected devices.
Once your policies are ironclad and put in place, you need to have the management that this technology requires. This requires a reliable and robust Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that can control all the mobile endpoints brought onto the network. With proper management and control over devices, the chances of a wearable vulnerability affecting your network is reduced significantly.
The truth is that people love new and exciting technology, and wearable technology will continue to grow and integrate itself into the business’ IT strategy. If you would like to learn how to properly secure your business’ IT from wearables to servers, give the IT professionals at VISTECH a call today at 860.251.8003.
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