Tablets are gaining ground. As noted by IDC, tablet sales saw a 13.1% year-over-year growth in the second quarter of 2025.
In part, this is because tablets offer a middle ground between mobile phones and business laptops, making them ideally suited to specific use cases in the workplace.
Consider a hospital ER that sees staff constantly on the move. Phones are portable, but they are too small, making data entry time-consuming. Laptops offer a larger surface area, but may require the use of peripherals, which can reduce their accessibility. Tablets oftentimes provide the best of both worlds. They come with larger screens than phones, lower weights than laptops, and — in the case of the latest Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Series including the Tab S11 Enterprise Edition — high-performance components including a 3nm processor and PC-like user experience.
When it comes to security, however, tablets are at risk of falling through the cracks. Enterprise mobile device management (MDM) policies typically prioritize phones, while hardware protections are often leveraged for laptops. The result is a gap in tablet protection, one that can leave businesses exposed to risk.
However, the Samsung Knox Suite Enterprise Plan was built and designed to change that, offering an end-to-end security ecosystem that fortifies every device, including tablets. Here’s how.
The Knox Suite advantage
Samsung Knox Suite is an all-in-one solution designed to manage and secure Galaxy devices. While all Knox Suite plans provide solutions to help secure, deploy, manage, analyze and troubleshoot devices, the Knox Platform for Enterprise offers government-grade security management features that give IT teams complete control over mobile environments in the workplace.
For example, while the Knox Suite Base Plan includes robust enterprise mobile management (EMM) control policies, the Knox Suite Enterprise Plan delivers granular OS update control to help ensure that operating system updates don’t interfere with business operations.
Other features include:
- Device usage analytics
- Proactive security insights
- Tailored features for frontline staff, such as barcode scanning or hardware key remapping
Common challenges in keeping tablets secure
To understand why tablet security is critical in the workplace, it helps to look at how their dual-purpose nature can introduce common security challenges – and how Samsung Knox helps solve them.
Work/life overlap
Tablets make it easier for staff to work anywhere — in the office, at home or on the road. For example, Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra offers Wi-Fi 7 connectivity along with an 11,600 mAh battery to meet employees where and when they are.
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This same ease, however, often leads to a dual-use approach that sees staff tapping tablets for both work and personal functions. Left unchecked, this can create security gaps that enable accidental data leaks, the use of insecure and unapproved applications or the loss of devices.
The Knox Suite Enterprise Plan helps significantly reduce these risks with EMM features such as remote device control, application management and comprehensive policy enforcement. Consider a lost tablet that contains key intellectual property (IP). Using the Knox Suite remote device control function, IT teams can shut down, reset or wipe devices from almost anywhere.
Outdated OS
As noted by the Zimperium 2025 Mobile Threat Report, half of mobile devices run outdated operating systems. At best, these outdates OSs mean reduced performance and missing features. At worst, they pose a security risk due to a lack of security updates and support.
With Knox E-FOTA — included as part of the Knox Suite Enterprise Plan — companies get full control over every OS version on every device. Security teams can choose the OS version they want to apply to all corporate devices and employ best-testing on sample devices to ensure new OS versions work with existing hardware.
Malicious attacks
Mobile devices are under increasing threat from malicious actors. It’s important that organizations using Android devices regularly review and restrict app permissions to lower total risk.
Knox Manage enables security teams to track business tablets, perform remote troubleshooting and enforce policies that restrict or enable the downloading of specific apps.
5 best practices to bolster tablet security
So, how do enterprises balance tablet utility with cybersecurity? Start with these best practices:
1. Deploy continuous monitoring tools
Continuous monitoring of device status and behavior helps companies spot small problems before they become big issues. Using Knox Asset Intelligence, enterprises can track all devices on in their felt and discover how applications and services are being used.
2. Schedule regular employee training
As new security risks emerge, enterprise response must evolve. Regular security training helps ensure that employees are up to date.
3. Create an update plan
Software updates are necessary, but left to their own devices, users may fail to complete these updates on time. With Knox E-FOTA, security pros can trigger mandatory firmware updates and ensure oversight through cloud-based monitoring.
4. Draft and enforce clear policies
Policies around app usage, downloads and access help reduce the risk of tablet compromise. But these policies are only effective if enforced. Solutions such as Knox Manage enable end-to-end device management and event-based policy enforcements based on conditions such as time, location, network or SIM change.
5. Use the right tech
Security starts with the device. No matter how good the software, inherently insecure devices pose risk. Galaxy Tab 11 series combined with Samsung Knox creates a solid starting point. For example, Knox-enabled devices can be configured with secure boot environments to ensure devices are protected from the moment they turn on.
Keeping tabs on security
Tablets offer the functionality of mobile phones with the enterprise-grade features of traditional laptops. But this operational intersection also creates security risks, ranging from lost devices to an outdated OS to compromised applications.
Galaxy Tab 11 Series backed by the Knox Suite Enterprise Plan provides the balance of productivity and protection modern businesses need to make the most of mobile technologies while effectively managing risk.
Ready to bolster tablet security and streamline protective processes? Start with Samsung Knox.
