These days, most workplaces have enacted a BYOD policy and many people do use their personal smartphones, tablets, and computers for work purposes. While BYOD makes employees’ lives easier, it can certainly cause headaches for IT departments. Since BYOD is here to stay, it’s up to the IT departments to make sure the associated security risks aren’t a factor. Here are some strategies that IT departments can use to help make BYOD as safe as possible:
Limit Personal Device Use
Although IT departments can’t really stop people from using personal devices at work, it is possible to limit which employees can actually access the business network. By restricting the amount of devices that are able to access the network, this can seriously reduce the risks. For instance, by making the business network only accessible to upper management, this allows IT the chance to approve the devices and also install security measures. That way, if a security issue does arise, it is much easier to identify a cause if there are fewer BYOD users.
Develop a Support Strategy
In many cases, it isn’t possible or practical to limit BYOD use to a select number of users. If BYOD is a widespread company policy, it makes sense to develop a sophisticated support strategy. Does the IT department have measures in place to help users problem solve issues on their devices? Will the business benefit from enacting community support tools, which will enable users to assist each other to take the burden off of the IT departments? In general, support strategies will vary depending on the nature of the business.
Encrypt Sensitive Data
Data is considered to be one of the biggest assets that a business has. Unfortunately, BYOD often causes this data to be vulnerable, which means that it is often easy for it to fall into the wrong hands. One of the ways that IT departments can protect sensitive data and keep it out of the hands of hackers is to encrypt it. Even though data encryption isn’t completely foolproof, it can still dissuade hackers from using the personal devices to breach the system.
Install Security Measures on Devices
There are plenty of security measures that can be installed on the devices, such as antivirus software and anti malware measures. Rather than leave this up to the device owner, however, it can help considerably if the IT departments made this measure mandatory. In fact, IT can take this a step further and actually recommend the security tools that will most effectively protect the devices. From there, it is up to the IT departments to make sure that the users are in compliance by installing the necessary security tools.
It’s true that BYOD can cause IT departments plenty of headaches. That’s why it’s important to make sure they’re up to the task. Be sure to contact Roan Solutions for assistance implementing a more secure BYOD policy.
