BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

Cyber Security Awareness Month

Cyber Security Awareness Month BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) & the emergence of BYOS (Bring Your Own Service)

There is a trend lately where employees are allowed or encouraged to complete work-related tasks on personal devices.  Laptops, i-Pads, Smartphones, are all being allowed to access, store, and manipulate company data.  As a business owner or manager you may use your own laptop at work for running QuickBooks and at home for browsing Facebook.  As an employee, you may access the company’s internal network with the same smartphone on which you play ‘Clash of Clans’.  These types of integration are becoming more common and pose an increasing threat to privacy and the security of company data. 

Do you know which version of Operating System the computer is running?  Do you know the privileges with which the Apps on the smartphone are operating under?  It is important for the IT Manager or Security engineer to create a policy that addresses these issues.  A few items that should go on the BYOD policy are:

1. Is the OS supported?
2. Is the OS patched and updated?
3. Is the firewall enabled?
4. Are there any Apps or programs running on the machines that are over privileged or insecure?
5. Is company data being stored on the device?  Is this data encrypted?
6. What risk is posed if the device is lost or stolen?
7. What risk is posed if the employee quits or is terminated?

BYOD will continue and integration seems to be on the rise as there is a newer trend emerging called BYOS (Bring Your Own Service).  In BYOS employees perform work tasks on their own programs or utilize web-based applications without the sanction of the IT Manager.  This poses even greater security risks as control of the data is entirely out of the company control and relies on a third party provider, often without any knowledge of the third-party’s security posture or level of competence.

In Cyber Security the best weapon is often education.  Make sure your educated as to what machines or application have access to your data.

If you have any questions about this or any other technology concerns, call Guardian Solutions today at 719.749.1112