How the Washington Redskins Use MDM to Secure Their Mobile Devices

The Washington Redskins’ digital playbooks, distributed on iPads to players, coaches and scouts, are much more secure than paper playbooks thanks to mobile device management software. If the tablets get lost or stolen, IT staff can remotely erase all the data on the devices using AirWatch’s cloud-based MDM software, says Asheesh Kinra, the team’s vice president of information technology.

Using MDM, IT locks down the iPads, making only three applications accessible to players: a playbook, video for watching game footage and email for communicating with coaches. Players cannot surf the web or download apps.

To further bolster security, Kinra has created a policy to remotely wipe the iPads if a player or coach mistypes his password five times.

The Redskins also took measures to protect the team’s new Cisco Voice over IP system, specifically the Cisco IP Communicator application on employees’ notebook computers. The team requires two-factor authentication before employees can connect to a virtual private network to access Cisco IP Communicator, says Sonny Sun, the Redskins IT manager. Employees must first type in their password, then key in a PIN that they receive on their cell- phone, he says.

To learn more about the Redskins' IT overhaul, check out the full feature.