Mobile Security: A Pocket Guide

Mobile devices represent an increasingly important proportion of the technology market, with laptops, PDAs and smartphones all offering substantial opportunities to improve personal communications and business flexibility. In addition, removable storage, such as memory sticks, now enables enormous quantities of data to be carried around, making it available to use on demand in any location. However, such undoubted advantages can also bring considerable risks, with devices being physically vulnerable to loss, theft and damage, as well as potentially exposed to various forms of electronic attack. As such, there is a significant and growing need for protection, in order to enable us to get the best out of the kit in an otherwise dangerous digital world. The book provides a concise reference to the key security issues affecting those that deploy and use mobile technologies to support their organisations. It aims to raise awareness of the threats to which mobile devices, users and data are exposed, as well as to provide advice on how to address the problems.
The key themes tackled in the chapters are as follows: * the importance of mobile technologies * physical threats in the outside world * dealing with network connectivity * authenticating the user * other mechanisms for protecting mobile data * attacks facing mobile devices and users * the potential limitations of mobile security features. The content is essentially applicable to anyone using and deploying mobile devices, but particularly relevant to those wanting guidance on why protection is required and what should be done to achieve it (while at the same time noting that it is not a detailed how-to guide for any particular technology platform). In addition to the main discussion and evidence, each chapter concludes with a series of takeaways that summarise the key messages, and can be used as high-level reminders of the points that we need to remember.