Today’s professionals are mobile. Constantly on the go. And they’re bringing their own devices (BYOD) into the work environment. So you have the challenge of making sure business data and systems remain secure and compliant – yet accessible anytime and anywhere, on any device. This article investigates how endpoint protection can lift the three curses that come with business mobility: 1) data corruption, 2) data breach and 3) data loss.

“Nearly a third of smartphone users who bring their own devices into the workplace have suffered a security issue and not told their boss” ~ Gartner, technology analysts

Endpoint protection – a kind of mobile data protection – lifts the three curses of business mobility by doing three things. Endpoint protection will:

• Keep your data and IT infrastructure secure and recoverable – this prevents/helps manage data loss
• Guard your business against digital threats – this helps avoid/manage data corruption
• Protect and manage your business data from lost or stolen devices – this helps avoid/recover from data breaches

“Proactively managing your endpoints can save a business more than £470 a year per device.” ~ IDC

Good endpoint protection will give you total visibility and control of devices – regardless of network, domain or location. It will keep those devices secure, monitored and compliant.

1. Data loss: lift the curse by keeping your data and IT infrastructure secure and recoverable

Endpoint protection gives you advanced encryption and other security access procedures and protocols that safeguard your data at all times. This data protection includes during data transmission and during the period of data storage – which can be up to seven years for legal compliance. It also protects your business when you do face an instance of data loss and need to trigger a data recovery process.

2. Data corruption: lift the curse by guarding your business against digital threats

Malware and viruses are the bane of today’s business. With good endpoint protection, superfast scans normally take fewer than 30 seconds and don’t slow you down. With real-time detection in the cloud, your business is protected in step with evolving digital threats. File pattern and predictive behaviour technology protects your business against the latest forms of threat and attack.

3. Data breach: protect and manage your business data from lost or stolen devices

Every year thousands of laptops and mobile devices with stored business data on them are lost or stolen. This exposes your organisation to the risk of data breaches and possibly even fines – damaging reputations and customer confidence. The tough end of it is that hardly a week goes by that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) doesn’t ‘name and shame’ and fine an organisation for breaking the Data Protection Act and exposing personal data to outside forces. In the worst case scenario – with a serious breach – the ICO has the power to levy fines of £500,000.

With endpoint protection you can protect your data and infrastructure with data encryption, lockdown and automatic data wiping. You can do this either remotely, or automatically, when triggered through an unauthorised attempt at accessing the device.

Learn more about endpoint protection, as part of Microsoft 365 Business, which combines the power of Microsoft’s cloud technologies in one, easy package.