BYOD (bring your own device) gives your employees the freedom and flexibility to use their own mobile devices (smartphone, a tablet and laptop) in accessing your company’s network. In this situation, how do you protect your enterprise data and manage the connections?
Many employees who are embracing BYOD boast of increased productivity because they can access their work-related data and corporate email accounts from their mobile device. However, each mobile device that connects to your network brings security threats with it. This scenario leaves your IT team wary as it could open the door to unauthorized applications and other security issues.
In this modern world, BYOD and security must go hand in hand. BYOD is gaining popularity, and even though you might have raised the red flag against its usage, many employees prefer to use their personal devices for convenience. Prohibiting BYOD is like going back to the Stone Age.
Don’t go against the trend
Instead of waging war against BYOD, the best thing to do is address the security challenges. Take the necessary steps to keep your network and data secure. After all, your organization benefits from it because of your employees’ increased productivity.
Keep in mind that you must enforce this without annoying the users with complicated security measures. In addition to having a clear BYOD corporate policy, the way to win the trust of your employees is by having a robust and flexible security framework.
Identity Management or Mobile Device Management (MDM)
This tool enables organizations to easily extend the enterprise security layer to any device used by the employee. Identifying who can access which part of the network and for how long is crucial in maintaining network security.
Nevertheless, allowing employees to use their personal device for work-related matters means both personal and corporate data are saved on the same device. MDM’s power shows its weakness here. While it is great in securing everything on the device, employees will end up losing all their personal data when MDM is deactivated on their device when logging out of the office or leaving from work.
Mobile Application Management (MAM) to the rescue
This is where MAM comes to play. This tool offers a brilliant solution that separates and protects corporate data. The employees’ personal data is completely isolated and not affected by what is going on with the applications in the enterprise container.
It comes as no surprise that MAM is gaining popularity among many organizations because their employees can put their trust on it. With MAM’s separation capability, employees enjoy peace of mind. Their work-related stuff are secure on their device and their private data remains private and isolated, and won’t be deleted when they leave the company.
BYOD makes many employees’ work-life easier. Its power and popularity are unstoppable. And when you address all the security challenges of embracing BYOD, your organization will enjoy all the benefits it offers.
Contact Four Cornerstone if you want a robust, flexible way of protecting your network and data, as well as manage all the devices connecting to your network. Our Oracle Consulting in Dallas will provide you with advice on contemporary solutions that best fit your needs.
Photo by ladislau.girona.
