Should employees worry about BYOD at workplaces?

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) that might have at some point started as a fad has now turned out to be a problem for companies. Especially at companies where there are no set rules or policies in place. However, it is the employee’s as much as the company’s responsibility to recognize the value of company-proprietary information and losses all around after a breach incident. Jeopardizing their own jobs is a major one as well. In spite of rules, some technically savvy employees usually have workarounds to any policy an employer might impose.

Here are some simple steps that can help BYOD issues at workplaces. Such as,

• What type of device does the employee have?
  • – Smart Phones/tablets/some other device?
• Have these been addressed — access controls, security protocols and authentications?
• Is a BYOD needed for the employee to do the job? How does it benefit the role of the employee and the company?
• What connection types does the device use? If the cellular connection is active while the employee connects to the corporate’s wireless network, then that could be a point of threat for attacks.

It is understood that rules have to vary based on an employee’s role at the company. Also, BYOD is starting to become a necessity especially at high-tech companies. Regardless, there should a base that should be covered on BYOD’s need at workplaces. Answering the questions what, why, how would cover several of the security issues surrounding BYODs at any organization.