Bring Your Own Security to BYOD

By David Byrd

Recently there have been numerous articles espousing the importance of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and mobility. While there are those that insist mobile phones will soon exceed desktop phones, the facts dont support the conclusion. It is expected that desktop phones will continue to be the primary communications device for the foreseeable future simply due to the cost of replacing all of the devices. However the importance of mobile devices has grown to a point where an AT&T study indicated that 66 percent of small businesses (2-99 employees) could not survive without mobile devices.

Given the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, it is not surprising that mobile devices have altered many business practices, and users are now dependent upon the devices. As the devices become more sophisticated, users move more of their daily functions away from simplistic desk phones and desktop PCs. Paychex released a study last year noting that 85 percent of small businesses acknowledge using mobile devices to regularly conduct business, with 42 percent of business owners using a smartphone as their primary phone number.

Last week Samsung announced the Samsung, which includes the ability to separate personal mobile data from business data. Both Samsung and BlackBerry recognize the need to establish some level of security on BYOD mobile environments. The Samsung security application, called KNOX, and the BlackBerry app, called Balance, both enable the secure separation of corporate and personal information to protect corporate data and applications.

If BYOD access is provided to corporate data and applications, recognize that the user is also bringing any downloaded or purchased applications, malware or viruses. Even iOS from Apple is now a target of malware creators and distributors and requires a plan for protection. Not only do we need to establish policies governing the use of BYOD, we now need to concern ourselves with BYOA or the applications running on mobile devices.

While there are best practices in developing usage rules and system protections, it is important for each business to look at their unique IT environment to determine what practices to employ. Dont delay. The rewards of mobile computing are great and all of us want the increased productivity, flexibility and access without the preventable risk.

One quick piece of advice: While developing your BYOD governance, make sure that your BYOD users run the most recent versions of the device operating system. These are usually the most secure and address any recently identified risks.

David Byrd is chief marketing officer and executive vice president of channel sales for

ANPI ZONE

. He previously spent five years as vice president of marketing and sales for Broadvox and before that was vice president of channels and alliances for Eftia and Telcordia.