As your school is trying to decide whether taking on the stress of standardizing on a BYOD platform and creating a BYOD policy in the coming year is worth it, there are some very basic levels of management that can either be avoided or brought forth to help make the transition smooth and secure.
Currently some existing approaches of handling mobile device management include:
Blocking mobile devices outright: This can lead to frustrated administration and kids finding a way around the system in an unsecured way not adhering to CIPA guidelines and opening the school up to liability.
Hoping that existing security products will protect the mobile devices by using basic mobility security: It takes sophisticated protection to keep infection off devices that could compromise confidential data or leave unauthorized network access opening up the door for liability due to improper regulation of CIPA laws.
When thinking of Mobile Device Management you must think protection of that device to then protect your network once that device is online. First and foremost when deciding on mobile device management pick management software that can control the data the access to that data and the movement between applications. For other features to look for in a management system:
- Ensure devices can be safely enabled with a very simplified deployment process.
- Devices can have proper settings in place such as strong passcodes and encryption simplifying provisioning of common configuration like email and certificates.
- Guarantee device settings can be managed & security settings can be enforced such as passcode restricting devices
- Make sure applications can be whitelisted and blacklisted.
- Be able to identify rooted or jail/broken devices.
- Key operational features such as lock, unlock wipe or send a message to that device should be included
- Entrenched detection of malware and the presence of malware will strongly help secure your network and help to properly shape your bandwidth.
As you determine the scope of a project it is essential to know every security protocol to put in place before standardizing on a certain 1:1 or BYOD platform. Contact us with further questions. Our expertise in 8 years of wireless networking has positioned us to know how to keep your students, your devices and your network running securely. We can help.
