According to Microsoft, mobile devices make up about 60% of the endpoints in an average company network. They also handle about 80% of the workload. Even though they’re so widely used, they’re often overlooked when it comes to strong cybersecurity measures.
This oversight occurs much more often with employee-owned mobile devices. BYOD shows significant differences from corporate-owned mobile use programs. Instead of using company owned and programmed tools, employees use their personal devices for work. Many companies found this the most economical way to keep their teams productive.
Purchasing company phones and wireless plans for staff is often out of a company’s financial reach. Carrying around two different devices, personal and work, is also difficult for many employees.
It’s estimated that 83% of companies have some type of BYOD policy.
You can run BYOD securely if you use best practices for data security. Too often in today’s world, business owners don’t even know all the devices currently connecting to business data, much less which ones may have data stored on them.
We put together some tips to overcome the security issues and challenges of BYOD. These practices should help you enjoy a win-win situation for both employees and the business.
Define Your BYOD Policy
Without defined rules for BYOD, then you can’t expect the process to be secure. Employees will probably leave business data unprotected. If they don’t know, they may connect to public Wi-Fi and then enter their business email password, exposing it.
If you allow employees to access business data from personal devices on a regular basis, you need a policy. This considered policy protects the company from unnecessary exposure risk. It can also lay out specific details that reduce potential problems. For instance, detailing the compensation for employees that use personal devices for work would be a good idea.
Keep Your Policy “Evergreen”
As soon as a policy grows outdated, it immediately becomes less relevant to employees. A team member may look at your BYOD policy and note that one directive is elderly. Because of that one old directive, they may think they should ignore the entire policy.
Ensure that you keep your BYOD policy “evergreen.” Doing so means updating it regularly if any changes impact those policies.
Use VoIP Apps for Business Calls
Prior to the pandemic, 65% of employees gave their personal phone numbers to customers. People hand those numbers out due to the need to connect with a client when away from an office phone. Clients also may save a personal number for a staff member when the employee calls the customer from their own device.
Customers using employees’ personal numbers is a problem for everyone. Employees may leave the company and no longer answer those calls. The customer may not realize why they’re ghosted suddenly.
Avoid the issue by using a business VoIP phone system. We have mobile apps that employees can use to get their desk calls on their cell phones. VoIP mobile apps allow employees to make and receive calls through a business number on their personal phones.
Create Restrictions on Saved Company Data
Remote work has brought the security issues with BYOD front and center in priority. While BYOD may have referred to mobile devices in the past, the term now includes computers too. Remote employees often must use their own PCs when working away from their office desk.
No matter what the type of device, the company should maintain control of business data. Restricting the types of data that staff can store on personal devices is an excellent place to start. Also ensure that the latest version of the data is backed up from those devices.
Require Device Updates
When employee devices are not updated or patched on a regular basis, they invite a data breach. Any endpoint connected to your network can enable a cybersecurity breach, including those owned by employees.
Ensuring that a device owned by an employee is kept updated can be tricky. Due to the difficulty, many businesses turn to endpoint management solutions. An endpoint device manager can push through automated updates without the need for the employee’s notice. Using them also allows you to protect business data without intruding on employee privacy.
The monitoring and management capabilities of these tools improve security to no end. Options include the ability to safelist devices. Safelisting can block devices that haven’t been added to the endpoint manager.
Include BYOD Policies in Your Offboarding Process
If an employee leaves your company, remember to clean their digital trail. Is the employee still receiving work emails on their personal phone? Do they have access to any kind of company data through persistent logins? Are any saved company passwords on their device?
These are all questions someone must ask when offboarding a former staff member. Also make sure to copy and remove any company files on their personal device. Additionally, ensure that you deauthorize their device(s) from your network so they don’t still have endpoint access.
Why Is This Published By A Business Phone Company?
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