With the explosive growth in the number of applications, content and data being accessed by a variety of devices in the workplace, mobile device management (MDM) presents significant challenges for enterprises today.

With these challenges in mind, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Mobile Working Group has released “Mobile Device Management: Key Components, V1.0,” a research report identifying 17 critical areas for organizations to consider for the full lifecycle security management of mobile devices. The whitepaper is one of six parts to the upcoming “Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Mobile Computing” report.

“As mobile devices have become mainstays in the enterprise, an understanding of the full technology, process, and people implications of MDM will be absolutely required to ensure that the introduction of mobile devices will not compromise security,” J.R. Santos, global research director of the CSA, said in a statement.

The 17 key areas of MDM, as identified by the CSA, are the following:

1. Policy
2. Risk Management
3. Device Diversity/Degree of Freedom
4. Configuration Management
5. Software Distribution
6. Enterprise AppStore
7. Content Library
8. Procurement
9. Provisioning
10. Device Policy Compliance and Enforcement
11. Enterprise Activation/Deactivation
12. Enterprise Asset Disposition
13. Process Automation
14. User Activity Logging/Workplace Monitoring
15. Security Settings
16. Selective Wipe/Remote Wipe/Lock
17. Identity Management/Authentication/Encryption

Given the proliferation of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), organizations need to adopt policies and practices to prevent any compromise in security, including a system-centric functionality to secure and manage data and applications, as well as information-centric functionality such as the delivery of the enterprise application store or content library, CSA officials said.

“Mobile devices are becoming an integral part of corporate networks and as employees are increasingly using their personal device to access cloud-based applications and services, identity management is paramount in ensuring that this access remains secure,” said Patrick Harding, CTO of Ping Identity. “By having the right identity management processes, enterprises can provide employees with secure and convenient access to cloud apps via single sign-on from mobile devices – whether BYOD or not. The CSA has taken important steps in identifying the key elements organizations need to consider before adopting a BYOD policy and we’re happy to see identity management recognized as a key piece.”

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