Take Mobile Worker Productivity to the Next Level

Enabled by IT sanctioned Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs, mobile workers are experiencing significant productivity gains from easy, fast access to enterprise email and calendar apps from personally owned smart-phones. And now, mobile workers are increasingly demanding that IT extend support beyond smartphones to include support for tablet devices as well as access to missioncritical enterprise applications, data and resources.

Historically, employees enjoyed similar access from IT-controlled laptops. In that predominately laptop-driven era, IT protected corporate networks by only allowing trusted devices and users to connect to the network.

In the new mobile era, however, IT no longer controls or manages these devices. Employees are independently choosing their smartphones and tablets as well as apps and services that address a combination of business and personal needs. While mobile device management (MDM) solutions can help secure data at rest on personal devices, they don’t address the widespread business need of enabling workers with the fast, simple access to mission-critical corporate applications, data and resources or protecting corporate systems and networks from mobile threats.

For example, an unauthorized person might use a lost or stolen device to access the corporate network and cause mayhem. A mobile device that is authorized to have access might unwittingly act as a conduit to infect the network with malware. Or corporate data might be intercepted over third-party wireless networks or mobile services selected by mobile workers.

To address workforce needs, Dell™ delivers a secure mobile access solution that combines its  SonicWALL Mobile Connect application with its Secure Remote Access or next-generation firewall appliances. The solution enables organizations to easily provision secure mobile access and role based privileges. Mobile workers get the fast, simple access to resources that they demand. At the same time, IT can ensure that the corporate network is protected from mobile threats, such as unauthorized access to data and malware attacks.

With the Dell solution, mobile workers simply install and launch the Mobile Connect application on their iOS or Android™ smartphone or tablet device to initiate secure access. An encrypted SSL VPN connection to our Dell SonicWALL next-gen firewall or Secure Remote Access (SRA) appliance is established to protect traffic from interception and keep in-flight data secure. A login screen is displayed for user authentication. Easy integration with most backend authentication systems, ensures only authorized user are allowed network access. For increased security, you can enable one-time password generation and easily integrate with other two-factor authentication technologies.

In addition, when deployed with Dell SonicWALL E-Class SRA, mobile device interrogation validates essential device security information such as jailbreak or root status, device ID, certificate status and OS version and allows only mobile devices that meet configured security policy requirements access to the network . This helps ensure that mobile devices meet security policy requirements and do not become conduits for harmful malware that can infect the corporate network. When deployed with Dell SonicWALL next-generation firewalls, traffic is scanned to clean embedded malware and prevent attacks.

With a Dell secure mobile access solution, IT can deliver policy-enforced mobile access to enterprise applications and protect corporate systems and data from mobile threats.

This week, we launched the secure mobile access campaign offering prospective customers an end-to-end mobile security solution. Click here for the latest White paper: Mobile Security: How to Protect the Enterprise in the Mobile Era.

About the Author: Jane Wasson