BYOD: Addressing the 5 Biggest Security Risks

If you’ve ever attended a potluck, you know the perks of everyone contributing a dish, but you probably also have some thoughts (or concerns) about how that dish was cooked and where it came from. This same idea applies to a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environment. Sure, employees love using their personal devices at work, but what have those devices been up to outside of the office?

While BYOD can boost productivity and save on company hardware costs, it can also give IT managers sleepless nights. After all, allowing personal devices into the workplace can introduce some serious security risks.

If your organization has jumped on the BYOD bandwagon, you’ve likely faced the challenge of enforcing security policies on devices that don’t belong to you. Thankfully, many tech providers offer solutions that can help you keep data safe while respecting user privacy.

Here are ways your organization can address the five biggest BYOD security risks!

Poor Communication

A user who does not understand their company’s BYOD security policy is an instant vulnerability. To make matters worse, less than half of all companies that allow BYOD have a policy in place (GASP!). You can set up security across your network, but without policy, how effective can it really be? Policy plays a crucial role in managing BYOD environments, and it’s an aspect that many organizations often overlook.

• User Tip: Reviewing your company’s BYOD security policy will inform you of your rights and responsibilities and give you an opportunity to ask meaningful questions about acceptable device use. Is your company’s policy too restrictive or too vague? Now is the time to ask.
• IT Pro Solution: Make sure your organization’s BYOD security policy is something the employee can agree with and buy into. The policy should spell out employees’ rights and?responsibilities, determine acceptable device use and specify what the business will access (or not access). It should also define the procedure for when a device goes missing or when an employee leaves the company.

Lost or Stolen Devices?

Over 60 percent of network breaches are due to a lost or stolen device. This would be your worst-case scenario because a single missing device containing sensitive data is enough to jeopardize the entire business.

• User Tip: Protect all of your devices with multifactor authentication (MFA). The more obstacles a potential thief faces, the greater chance your company’s data remains protected.
• IT Pro Solution: A Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution plays an important role in BYOD security because it allows admins to lock or wipe a device in case of emergency or when an employee leaves the company.

Unsecure Networks?

Free public Wi-Fi in the airport coffee shop is convenient, but its unsecure wireless network puts your company’s data at risk. Forty percent of mobile devices used for work get exposed to an attack in the first four months of use.

• User Tip: Stay out of harm’s way by connecting to a company?VPN connection, a private Wi-Fi connection or a tethered mobile phone network. Each of these secure network options offers better protection.
• IT Pro Solution: Deploy a solution that lets you create a unique security profile for each end user. Profiling helps you tailor a unique security solution to each user that is designed to fit their needs while satisfying your organization’s overall security demands. A solution like Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) lets you customize security policies based on the type of user, where they are, what device they are on and the time of day.

Malicious Apps?

The?number one mobile security concern among IT pros is users downloading apps infiltrated with malicious malware code. A free flashlight app you downloaded is helpful when you drop your car keys in the parking lot, but there is also a chance it’s?even more useful to the cybercriminal who’s secretly using it to access your device.

• User Tip: Avoid ‘jailbreaking’ or ‘rooting’ your device (installing unapproved apps or making unauthorized customizations). Doing so opens it up to new vulnerabilities by bypassing built-in security features.
• IT Pro Solution: With a Mobile Application Management system, you can customize controls based on how apps are used, the type of user, the application, the network or the time of day. You can also specify which apps are approved and which ones are banned.? With Citrix XenMobile, you can set up your own?enterprise app store, where users can download custom-made enterprise apps or approved third-party apps to their devices.

Unsecure Data Transfer?

Without protections, all of the data on your device — including emails, messages and photos — could be intercepted. Controlling the flow of data to-and-from a user’s device can prevent a costly data breach, which cost companies an average of $4.88 million in 2024.

• User Tip: Encryption is one of the best ways to protect data in transit because it encodes your data, and the only way to decode it is to have the right key. Taking 30 seconds to set up a PIN code or password on your iPhone not only protects your device but also activates data encryption automatically. If you have an Android device, you can access your security settings to enable encryption.
• IT Pro Solution: Use a Mobile Content Management (MCM) to separate company resources from user data with ‘containers’. This type of control lets you manage secure company data while keeping user information private.

The Complete Solution

If individual solutions aren’t enough to eliminate your vulnerabilities, a single Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) contains MDM,?MCM, MAM solutions and user profiling while offering full endpoint security. Consider EMM solutions like?Cisco Meraki, which offers control over the entire BYOD environment, or VMWare’s AirWatch, where admins can easily monitor their network through a web-based console.

Choosing Your Path

As the demand for BYOD increases, you need to weigh which security?strategies are right for your organization. Allowing BYOD at your workplace without security measures will cost you in the long run.

So, whether it’s a casserole or a smartphone, remember: a little bit of care goes a long way in keeping things safe and sound!