Smartphones have eased their way into the business world; they have cemented a spot in the daily operations of most businesses. With most businesses having BYOD policies in place, employees can use their smartphones to log in to their work accounts while at home and perform business-critical tasks regardless of their location. This has also made it possible for businesses to use CRM software, such as Findjoo, in the field with little friction.

Sadly, the fact that employees are using their phones for work-related purposes increases the vectors through which cybercriminals can attack the business. With employees having to go home with these devices, they step away from the security safe haven created by their IT departments, increasing the chances of a secure attack. Luckily, you can do a lot to protect your phone and ensure that your business remains safe enough.

Here are some cybersecurity tips for embracing daily:

In comparison to saving corporate data on the phone, storing it in the cloud has a lot of perks. The first perk is that it is easy to access the data from anywhere using any device. This means that you will barely eat into the internal storage of your personal device. Second, the cloud makes collaboration easy. If you make any updates to a document, the latest version of the document will be available to your entire team instead of you having different versions of the same document on different devices.

Security is the biggest win you can get from embracing the cloud. Having stored your corporate data in the cloud, you will not have to worry about losing your device, or it getting stolen. The corporate data will be safe on the cloud, regardless of the situation. In case a hacker manages to access your smartphone, they will need your login passwords as well as an encryption key to access your corporate data on the cloud. Even better, the cloud makes security measures such as containerization much easier.

While free public Wi-Fi can be inviting, cybersecurity professionals consider it a landmine. Hackers have, for long, been known to use public Wi-Fi networks to snoop into the data of the Wi-Fi’s users. Since some are mostly unprotected and unencrypted networks, the chances are that your corporate data can fall into the wrong hands. Stick to using private wireless networks.

If it might be impossible to avoid public Wi-Fi networks, consider using a VPN. It will ensure that your corporate data passes through an encrypted connection that is linked to a server in another location. However, be choosy with the VPN vendor you choose to work with since not all are made equal.

For an app to be accepted into your phone’s native app store, its developers must pass through a strict set of security and functionality guidelines. This ensures that you, as the user, can download apps that are both secure and intuitive enough for daily use. Since the apps of hackers can’t pass the threshold of these applications, they have no other choice than to host their apps on third-party app stores. Some of these apps are laden with malware and viruses that will easily lead to a data breach when installed into your phone.

For these cybercriminals to lure people into downloading the applications, they use cunning app descriptions and strategies that make their apps seem irresistible. The best option for you is to avoid downloading apps from third-party app stores. If you must, consult your IT department to ensure that the app will be secure enough to co-exist with your corporate data.

As for apps that you download through the native app store on your phone, take some time reading through their app permissions before allowing these permissions. While they may have made the cut for being hosted on your app store, you should never take a chance with them too. If an application doesn’t need a specific feature for you to use it, do not allow it.

While software and application developers do their best when it comes to developing their product, they are often less than perfect. Some of them come with security loopholes, known as vulnerabilities, which can lead to a data breach. As a result, these developers work overtime to identify these vulnerabilities and come up with patches for them.

They then send these patches to you as software and application updates. Failure to install such updates will leave you exposed to the risk of a data breach, were cybercriminals to attack your device. The wise thing to do is to commit to making the updates in a timely manner. This includes both updates for your operating systems and those of third-party applications.

Enjoying the perks of having a BYOD policy requires you to be diligent security-wise. It takes a little bit of caution to prevent a major data breach. Consider the tips above to enjoy using your device for work-related reasons while still protecting your business