With such a sudden and unavoidable reliance on home-based working – much of which is, of course, happening on mobile devices – the whole business community faces a serious and ongoing challenge. How to protect the company, its data and employees against the threats of cybercrime.

And for SMEs, who may not have the luxury of a large IT department at their behest, cybersecurity was an issue that became ‘screamingly urgent’ when lockdown was introduced – effectively turning what can take months of planning into a one-week sprint. And to put that into context, it’s been reported that malware and phishing emails increased by 667% between February and March, the period when Covid-19 was spreading at its fastest.

In Ireland, Three saw this coming, and launched 3Mobile Protect – a discreet ‘shield’ that users can set up in minutes on their devices, to block malware and phishing scam emails, and filter out inappropriate content, apps and websites from work accounts. It can also set roaming and data controls, so that users can work within the business’s means at all times.

Such a simple but valuable tool can quickly create peace of mind for businesses when they need it most – which is here and now. It’s a good example of Three Ireland’s commitment to putting the business customer first. With no time to spare, businesses can deploy the service across employees’ devices in a matter of minutes – from a virtual Mobile Device Management platform, or via app download on iOS or Android – leaving them free to get back to business.

3Mobile Protect is being promoted on Three’s business website and LinkedIn.