Remote wipe: How should use it, and why?
It’s 2020, the news of data breach has become less important to the people. We still hear so many companies are suffering damages from data breaches every year. Under these circumstances, data breaches are no longer just a technical but also a financial responsibility. Companies are required to pay significant penalties if their data (which can also include consumers’ data) have been compromised which leads to financial losses.
MDM provides many solutions like location tracking for prevention of data loss, but desperate times call for desperate measures and that is remote wipe.This seemingly tiny little feature has the power to rescue an enterprise from a downfall but at the same time may cause irreplaceable loss of data.
1. Importance of remote wipe in the corporate world
A data compromise is not something that an enterprise can deal with. Not only fines, they can hurt the reputation of the company and ultimately drive it out of business. Before we get into different types of data, let’s look at different situations that require a data wipe away.
Network Attack: The corporate world is not unfamiliar with the attacks on the network. A network attack occurs when an infiltrator uses a system, infrastructure or application weakness to infiltrate an organization.
Social attack: A social attack occurs when the employee is encouraged to break down security practices and subsequently grant access to corporate resources that reveal sensitive data to the attacker.
Employee mishaps: When an employee leaves the organization, the data on his phone needs to be removed. The same applies when a device is lost or stolen due to mishandling by employees.
Among these scenarios, remote wipe makes sense for Social attack and Employee issues. Whereas in the case of network attacks bigger security measures need to be taken.
2. Difference between Enterprise wipe and device wipe.
Remote data wipe can be done in two ways. There is a partial wipe and a full data wipe.
Enterprise Wipe
It is a partial data wipe that ensures that only business / enterprise data such as managed documents and applications are wiped from devices, personal data remains unaffected. Enterprise data wipe is generally used in BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy where people use their personal devices to operate with a separate work application and files.
Device Wipe
A full data wipe which is basically a factory reset making a device good as new with everything wiped. Device wipes are used for COPE (Company Owned Personal Enabled) devices that contain a lot of sensitive information.
3. Is there a need for an MDM solution?
There are many methods of adopting a device wipe. There are a lot of options depending on the operating system. For example, Microsoft users can request one with the help of ActiveSync, Apple and Android users can make use of Find my phone feature, Samsung offers an app that can perform reset on Samsung devices and a lot of third-party apps to choose from.
But they all offer a complete reset, what if you just want the company data to be deleted and the device not reset? That’s when a solution for MDM helps a lot. Not only do they offer a complete data reset, they also offer solutions for removing Business data, removing an app and its data and more.
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is a program that enables workers to operate on their own devices. It’s cost-effective because the company doesn’t need to purchase or maintain the devices. Though BYOD instilled fear and confusion, this program started to be adopted by companies. MDM is one of the reasons they considered BYOD as beneficial.Simply because corporate data and personal data could be handled separately.
What if the employee decides to quit, or the device gets lost or stolen?
These were the common concerns with BYOD. Implementation of Remote Enterprise wipe using an MDM service acts as a solution to these concerns. IT admins can wipe data from their desks, the target device just needs to be connected to a network. Along with that, enrolling a device in an MDM opens a plethora of device security and mobility management features.
4. How to choose the right MDM for remote wipe?
There are plenty of MDM solutions in the market and almost all of them support remote wipe, but not all are made identical and you obviously want the best one, right? Hexnode MDM is one of the solution we have provided to our clients, and we customized the plan based on customers’ needs.
Hexnode MDM is an emerging vendor in the MDM and UEM market and offers solutions like remote wipe for your data security woes.
For remote wipe Hexnode offers support for:
- Multiple OS support
Be it Windows, iOS, Android or macOS, Hexnode offers remote wipe on different platforms.
- Available as action in the portal
Remote wipe is an immediate action. So Hexnode offers it as an action that can be executed easily without the need for creating and applying a policy.
Along with that Hexnode offers additional features like:
- Lost mode
Hexnode offers a lost mode which is also available as an action in the portal. Lost mode enables the admin to lockdown device with all actions on the device suspended just displaying the text admin wants.
- Remote Ring
Hexnode also features a remote ring with a custom message to assist with retrieving lost/stolen devices. Works even if the device is silent.
- Enterprise Wipe
Hexnode offers an Enterprise Wipe feature that removes everything pushed via MDM and removes mobile device management control on the device, making things easier for the IT admin when an employee leaves the organization. Disenroll feature can also become useful in scenarios that demand an enterprise wipe.
- Location Tracking
Hexnode features location tracking which enables the IT admin to track the device from the portal, with real-time updates. This helps in the recovery of lost or stolen devices.
- Remote Lock
Hexnode provides admins with the capability of remotely locking a device from the Hexnode MDM portal. This is a security feature intended for cases where devices are lost or stolen, by blocking unauthorized access to the device.
In an increasingly competitive world, data security is the main concern for most of the businesses even personally. MDM solutions offer the best security for your device and data with features like remote lock, remote ring and remote wipe, lost mode, mobile threat management and etc.
As the need for an MDM solution is always on the rise. So, if have any inquiry can direct online chat with our MDM specialist, and ask for a demo from us today!
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