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Importance of having a BYOD Security Policy

You may not be aware of the term BYOD, but it is all around us. In fact, you may already be part of this new revolution without realising it. BYOD, or ‘bring your own device‘ is the phenomenon of using your own device for work. This could be something overly official, such as your work laptop, or something rather simple, such as using your phone to check work emails. As the boundaries between offices, remote working and working from home turn grey, the use of our devices to get our work done is becoming more and more common.

However, as an employer, this isn’t without its risks. On the face of it, it seems rather simple and useful. You don’t have to spend any money on buying devices, and you can let your employees deal with all the annoying IT issues. However, allowing your employees’ personal devices access to something as simple as email may be inviting a lot of trouble. Some of the potential issues could be:

  • Lost or stolen devices, and hence loss or theft of  propriety information
  • Loss of customer or company data on the device
  • Misuse of devices, and then that misuse of device being linked to your company
  • Malware on device, attacking your company data or its services

This calls for companies to set up a security policy around BYOD devices that are connecting to work. A simple set of rules to follow could be:

  • Issue a security policy as part of induction
  • Keep a register of all BYOD devices
  • Ensure all registered devices have security updates installed
  • Invest in some kind of security software for BYOD devices
  • Use of auto-lock features
  • Make sure any device that connects to company data/emails is protected via password or pin
  • Keep personal usage on a different network, so no access is available to company data
  • Have a policy on apps that may or may not be allowed to use the company network/data
  • Keep the policies updated

Computer manufacturer DELL has invested some time in looking up BYOD and created a handy infographic detailing usage and security policy advice. You can check it out below:

02 BYOD

Do you use BYOD at your work place? Do you have security policy in place? Do let us know!

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