One of the biggest movements in the business world has been the BYOD movement. BYOD stands for bring your own device, and it has been picking up steam because employees can use the devices they want while business owners save money. Despite the wild popularity of the movement, you shouldn’t just fall in line with the hype. There are security risks to the BYOD movement that can bring a world of headaches if you do not address it with an IT policy.
IT policies make sure that businesses keep their most essential data in lock down. For example, the problem with BYOD is that an employee with a Smartphone can have it stolen. If they had sensitive data on that phone related to your company, it becomes more than a stolen phone. It becomes an entry point that can destroy everything you worked hard for.
This is why creating a policy that you enforce can have a major impact on your business. Set up a requirement that employees have passwords on their phone if they will take advantage of BYOD. Also, install an app that lets you wipe the data employee Smartphones remotely. This not only becomes a deterrent to thieves, it also ensures that if you fire an employee, you can remove the sensitive data on their phone so that they cannot do damage. For further information on a BYOD policy contact Fullerton IT support.
Addressing BYOD Security Risks
Wherever we go, personal computing will go with us because of the wide acceptance of Smartphones and tablets. Using these devices, we can take our work home with us, but you have to have a good BYOD strategy to address the security risks. While BYOD can raise your productivity levels, you still have to address the risks to security. For example, one of the greatest reasons that businesses avoid BYOD strategy involves the potential for leaving company systems open to a data breach. Because personal devices are not part of your personal IT infrastructure, the devices will not be protected by the company firewall.
Personal devices also have a tendency of lacking the right data encryption level, which keeps people from snooping through your private information. If your employees fail to keep their devices updated, hackers will have the ability to infiltrate your IT infrastructure. Also, if they have a tendency of using open Wifi spots, this will make your company more vulnerable to hackers who prey off these areas.
Viruses are another common issue with BYOD strategies. When an employee uses their own device, it means that they can download whatever mobile apps that would restrict their system. In addition, keeping track of vulnerabilities and updates can be much harder.
