In his article Hotpot State of Fear, Ed Sutherland has gathered information from both sides of the fence regarding the safety of using public hot spots by mobile professionals. Are these fears justified or a case of “FUD” – the promotion of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt just so that security companies can promote and sell more products?
The article does point out that some mobile professionals and their employers aren’t taking advantage of easily obtained security precautions and that is a priority which should be remedied at a corporate level and it is not difficult to do so.
Read the article and make your own decision, but I don’t believe that fear should be a deciding factor regarding the use of public hot spots. Preventing mobile professionals from accessing public hot spots defeats the purpose of enabling workers to be mobile and have access to gadgets which allow them to check email and work on data while on the road.
Educating mobile professionals regarding the potential threats that they face when using a public hot spot is another important practice which companies should be doing whenever employees leave the office to work, this should also be a component of any mobile work policy.
As anything computer related, and especially for mobile office technology, there is an element of risk in all work being undertaken outside the traditional walls of corporate offices. In my opinion properly prepared mobile professionals and their employers will not have problems with security in public hot spots provided they have put in place measures which cover educating mobile professionals and have the proper security software and hardware in place.
Risk management for mobile work programs must be taken seriously by companies, and procedures put into place to ensure that mobile professionals are working in the safest and securest environment for their mobile gear, data protection and preventing unauthorized access to corporate networks.