The New E-Security Frontier

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.informationweek.com/794/secure.htm

July 10, 2000
By Dr. Martin Goslar, Ph.D.

The proliferation of Internet technologies has helped fuel the
telecommuting wave with its mobility and connectivity needs, but it's
been a double-edged sword as that very mobility has increased security
threats to networks from dial-up and wireless access

The term telecommuting used to have a mildly negative connotation
associated with employees who had the time and the type of flexible
responsibilities that let them work from home and avoid some of the
daily commuting and office interruptions that are part of the workaday
world.

Fast-forward to the year 2000 and we find busy, globe-trotting
professionals working all sorts of hours from anywhere their business
takes them. And the types of activities they're conducting from their
notebooks and handhelds are the same as those they perform from their
office--communications, E-mail, voice mail, uploading and downloading
of files, Web browsing, and even streaming media.

While companies have been busy--if not always terribly
effective--instituting E-security measures to block external threats
to their Web sites, mobile systems that access corporate systems are
largely unprotected. This has dangerous implications as more employees
take to the road with their handy notebooks and personal digital
assistants.

An American Management Association telecommuting study of more than
1,200 workers conducted last year indicated that only 23% of the
respondents worked exclusively from regular office locations. Many
respondents reported accessing company systems before and after work,
while on trips, and in other business-related activities during off
time.

That study also found that 24% of employers loaned employees the
equipment to work from home while 27% purchased the necessary
equipment, 3% required the home-based employee to pay for the
equipment they needed to telecommute, and 7% shared expenses with the
employee.

Professionals, managers, and executives require far more mobility and
connectivity to keep up with an expanded range of duties and
competitive business pressures. The proliferation of Internet
technologies has helped fuel this newfound productivity and mobility.
But it's a double-edged sword, opening up the possibility of more
security threats over dial-up and new wireless access services.

The term telecommuting, defined as a description of modern business
behavior, is less than accurate. There are actually two components to
mobile computing--the telecommuter and the telecomputer--with
different security concerns for each.

[...]

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