Bring Your Own Device is here for good. What are the risks?
As the leading Fort Collins & Greeley IT support and consulting firm, we are often asked about Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). In particular, businesses want to know what the risks are in letting their employees and contractors connect their own devices to the business network. While there are a number of benefits to this, there can be a number of pitfalls inherent in the process. With careful management some of these risks can be mitigated. So what are the risks?
Lost or stolen
The biggest issue with BYOD is that the device may get stolen or lost. These devices are far more likely to be taken than those that never leave the office and they can contain a huge amount of sensitive data. Losing a smart phone or tablet can be a big issue for a business and a BYOD setup means that there is a far greater chance of this happening.
Jailbreaking
One of the dangers is that employees may jailbreak their devices, a process which removes the manufacturer’s safeguards and controls. One of the issues here is that a jailbroken device will often be less secure than one that has not been jailbroken, leaving it open to potential hacking and security breaches.
Vulnerable Software, Devices
If employees do not update their software regularly, particularly security related updates, they may expose your corporate data, should there be a security breach. They may also use third party applications that create a weakness in the device’s general security measures.
Wireless Access Points
With a BYOD many employees will use public wireless access points, say in hotels, cafes and other public spaces. This can leave the device open to potential attacks or snooping. Devices connected to public wireless networks are easier to find and data transmission easy to intercept.
Email Exposed
It the device user does not put a PIN on the lock of their device and someone unauthorized gets a hold of it, they will have unlimited access to the email until measures are put in place to stop it. This means they could not only find compromising information but could also misrepresent your company.
Adware, Spyware
Spyware and adware have become an increasingly big problem, and many free apps on mobiles gather a lot of data from the devices they are installed on. This data can then be used in nefarious ways that you do not want, possibly compromising your business.
Cloud-Based Storage Services
With the rise of cloud based storage and BYOD there is an increased danger of large amounts of corporate data being accessed by the wrong people. If the device falls into the wrong hands, then not only do they get access to the personal data but if it is connected to a company cloud server, they could get even more information.
Talk to Technical Framework’s Fort Collins & Greeley IT support and consulting firm about your BYOD concerns. We can help you reduce risk and manage your BYOD network in the best possible way.
