Reducing the risks of BYOD in the enterprise (free PDF)

When it comes to dealing with BYOD and its attendant risks, the best defense may be a good offense. This ebook identifies areas of concern and outlines the steps you can take to protect company data in a BYOD world.

From the ebook:

The practice of employees using personal phones and tablets at work is already widespread, with the number of such devices forecast to hit one billion by 2018.

The challenge posed to enterprises by the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend is that it forces them to keep corporate data safe on a plethora of mobile computers that are not directly under IT’s control. Worse, each device can potentially be running a different OS, with different apps installed and different vulnerabilities.

How should organisations approach the security of these devices in a way that doesn’t interfere with employees’ ability to work?

Here are some best-practice tips for managing security on BYOD smartphones and tablets.

Don’t block BYOD; prepare for it

Employees will use personal devices at work whether you like it or not, said analyst firm Gartner. Half of employees surveyed told the analyst they had used their own device at work without corporate approval.

In the report How to Avoid the Top 10 EMM/MDM Deployment Mistakes, Gartner said, “The single biggest mistake any IT organization can make is to do nothing.”

Instead, IT departments should prepare the business to manage BYOD, reviewing which devices employees are most likely to use and ranking them on their manageability, availability of business apps, supportability, and security.

“IT’s goal is to be prepared to justify decisions to allow or disallow specific devices and configurations based on proactive evidence,” the report said.

Gartner also recommended that where BYOD isn’t an option, companies should offer a choose-your-own-device (CYOD) program, in which staff choose from a list of devices that the company purchases, owns, and manages.

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Topic:
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PDF