Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a great policy to increase productivity and reduce costs. Employees can use their own laptops and smartphones more effectively and can travel with them to work from out of the office. Instead of buying new computers and phones for employees, businesses can invest the money in other ways.
This all sounds promising, but it’s missing another important fact regarding BYOD — it poses a huge security risk. A recent Tech Cocktail article explains what can happen when employees store company data on their personal devices:
“After all, the devices your employees are using to connect to the network are generally “out in the wild” — that is, individuals are taking these devices everywhere they go. This could leave the smartphones or tablets open to being lost, stolen, or hacked into without the aid of company IT to help lock down or wipe the device. It’s no wonder that many IT departments aren’t too hot on the idea of BYOD.”
Let’s say your employee connects to an unsecured network with his phone. Now, someone can try to hack into his account and steal his data. Think of all the networks your employees connect to in their everyday lives.
It doesn’t even take a malicious act for BYOD to pose a risk. Your employee can just forget his phone or laptop at a cafe. When that happens, there’s nothing protecting your company’s data. How are you going to explain to customers that their credit card information has been compromised because one employee forgot to check his pockets before walking out of the door?
The good news is that there’s policy you can adopt to prevent this from ever happening. By protecting your data, you can let employees bring their own devices without jeopardizing your company’s reputation. This lets you enjoy the best of both worlds.
To talk more about BYOD security, or anything else, contact us today.