Some Businesses Aren’t So Sure About BYOD

Whoever came up with the idea of BYOD sure was onto something. Employees love bringing in their own personal devices for work, but is it putting businesses at risk? BYOD was well-received by the business world, but now some companies are questioning whether mobile devices at work are putting their information at risk.

A spring survey by CompTIA, administered to 400 IT and business executives, found that 51 percent of subjects have no interest in BYOD. This majority statistic seems to bring down a pretty great concept. When mobile devices were first introduced, it was predicted that they were going to change the way we view the workplace for the better, but that’s not what this number delivers to the business world. Instead of a BYOD policy, some businesses are opting for a CYOD (Choose Your Own Device).

This option allows workers to choose company-owned mobile devices to use for work purposes. Though it appears to be much more costly than allowing your team to bring in their own devices, it can prevent costly data breaches. There are measures you can take to make the device as personalized as your team wants. You can let your employees decide what model device and applications they would like, so long as they are first cleared by your technology team.

Little things like these will let your employees feel like the device is their own without all of the general security dangers it could pose for your company. This approach toward mobile devices makes your team likely to carry the company devices on their person at all times, while giving your business control over the security of the device. This resolves one problem concerning mobile devices; how company data is deleted from the device if something unfavorable happens.

There are several reasons you might need to remotely wipe specific data from employee phones. For instance, what if you have to let someone go, and their device holds valuable company information that they could sell to competitors? If the device belongs to the company, you can feel free to completely wipe it, since all of its contents belong to the company, anyway. Of course, if you want to be a decent human being, you should at least let them know ahead of time before wiping the info, just to make sure they get any personal files off of it before the big wipe.

Employers who follow a CYOD policy have much more control over their devices than those who practice a BYOD policy. It also keeps you from wondering who is following the company security policies or not. This prevents you from falling victim to the dangerous security threats that BYOD poses. According to Marble Security Labs, some of the most deadly BYOD threats are:

• Malicious apps published by hackers.
• Mobile attacks over SMS messages.
• A compromised WiFi hotspot.
• Hostile configuration profiles.
• Unencrypted email attachments.
• Backup hijacking.
• Marble Security Labs also analyzed 1.2 million iOS and Android applications, discovering that business data is far from being secure from threats due to consumer applications.

BYOD might not be the most secure idea in the eyes of some businesses, but it is still a perfectly viable solution as long as you are willing to map out your policies. However, you should keep a close eye on how your team is using their devices and you might need to implement some extra security precautions. Or, if you don’t want to deal with the possibility of insecurity, you can take the CYOD approach.

To find out the best approach for your business, give Computerware a call at (703) 821-8200. We’ll work with you to find the best solutions for your mobile device policy.