Introduction

CXO currently provides Apps for iPad, iPhone and Android devices. This article describes typical considerations when rolling out one of the CXO mobile apps and the most common ways to address them.

Security considerations

As soon as companies want to access confidential information on mobile devices all sorts of questions come up.

Questions like:

What additional security can we use to secure our mobile data?
Can we encrypt this data?
Does the App cache any of the reports?

In order to answer these questions (since CXO is installed in most cases in your own environment) it often comes down to your own IT policies on how to deal with the connectivity to CXO.

Below you will find connectivity solutions applied by our customers.

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Apply SSL encryption and make the website publicly available

This option is most used by non-public organizations and is probably the most user friendly option. The way it works is that all website traffic is encrypted using SSL, while the website is available publicly on the internet. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. SSL is an industry standard and is used by millions of websites. In the case of CXO, the remote user just needs to log in to the CXO app with a user name and password to get access to the dashboards. It is recommended to enforce a complex password policy to avoid passwords like “Welcome”.

VPN connection Using a VPN connection, sometimes in combination with SSL, is widely used by public organizations

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network, such as the Internet. It enables a computer to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if it were directly connected to the private network, while benefiting from the functionality, security and management policies of the private network. The user needs to have the correct VPN software and account details on his mobile device in order to login to the corporate network. Once connected to the network via VPN the user can start the mobile app and login to CXO.

Mobile Device Management

Many customers of CXO secure the CXO app by means of a Mobile Device Management (MDM) product. MDM products are built with an idea of Containerization. The MDM Container is secured using the latest crypto techniques. Corporate data such as email, documents, and enterprise applications are encrypted and processed inside the container. This ensures that corporate data is separated from user’s personal data on the device. Additionally, encryption for the entire device and/or SD Card can be enforced depending on MDM product capability.

No remote connectivity

Some companies decide to use the CXO mobile app only within the company building. The user can then only access CXO reports on their mobile device when connected to the company Wi-Fi. With this security level it is still possible to use an iPad during a board meeting, however, this option is very secure but also very limited.

Additional features

CXO provides a number of additional features to make the mobile usage more secure:

Mobile usage can be switched off/on at the server level
Mobile usage can be switched off/on per user
The “Remember my password” function can be disabled at the server level
None of the reports viewed with the CXO app are cached on the mobile device

Find more information in this presentation:

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