Device ban on flights;
Time to review your remote working practises?
“The UK government has announced a cabin baggage ban on laptops and tablets on direct flights to the UK from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.” 22/3/17
The recent news on the ban of certain electronic devices in hand luggage on certain flights is challenging for personal travel but now more so for the business traveller. Companies with staff travelling on business with their tablets and laptops will now have to secure the device(s) in their hold luggage which means company data is potentially at higher risk of compromise.
The ban is only on certain inbound (to the UK) from a small number of countries. But this could be opened up to include many more (all?) flights - a bit like the liquid ban that came in after 9/11.
This leads to the question of how best to minimise a potential data security breach and companies should review their travel strategy with immediate effect.
Essentially, you’re looking at remote access to the systems and data your staff need via the cloud*
- Stow a cheap ‘clean’ device (Chromebook?) that utilises an internet browser only. (No Company files/data is stored on the device.)
- Or access to a local (in-country) internet device and service.
- Or if visiting a client, then possible access to a client guest device?
Be aware that a loan / guest device might have malware and can you be certain the device hasn’t been compromised?
* if you can't, make sure there's no company data easily accessed on the device: store it in an encrypted folder/drive.