BYOD—or the policy of bring your own device that many companies have—has more than its fair share of fans and critics. IT professionals, however, are largely critical of the security risk that BYOD policies pose to network security.
In a new column for IT Business Edge, Leonel Navarro suggested that BYOD is here to stay, so IT professionals need to find a way to get used to it and devise policies that enable them to live with it. There are often backdoors to policies that could leave a security system vulnerable.
Since the implementation of bring your own device with several companies, employee productivity, satisfaction and mobility have increased. But, at what cost to company security have these increases caused? If employees are able to access Gmail, Hotmail, Dropbox (News - Alert), and other such programs from the company computers, trying to implement a BYOD security system for mobile devices will be very ineffective.
While Apple’s iOS devices may seem like the most popular devices to use, Android (News - Alert) devices are on the rise. It has been predicted that in the next two to three years, smartphones will account for close to 80 percent of all mobile phones. This is an important fact for Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) to know, as they need to develop broader security systems that will monitor not only iOS devices, but Android devices as well.
There are some keys factors that need to be added to help create a BYOD security system that is secure and mobile friendly. These factors include devices that will be recognized, e-mail usage standards, access and authentication methods, education about mobile usage, stored data management, malware protection, wiping procedures, location tracking, application usage and device configuration.
The new BYOD solutions are not going away, so it is now imperative the security systems are developed to protect companies, as well as allow for the ease of usage by employees being able to use their own devices.
Image via Shutterstock
Edited by Rachel Ramsey