A guide to using BYOD and UYOD securely and productively

If used correctly, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) strategies can increase productivity among employees, as many people enjoy the flexibility of UYOD (Use Your Own Device). However, the risk of BYOD is significant, if not managed effectively.

With cyber crime costing the world £1.2 trillion in 2019, it’s evident that it could end up costing you significantly more money than purchasing a few extra laptops!

Why consider forming a BYOD policy?

• Protect your employees: they don’t want their personal devices to be vulnerable to a cyber-attack – especially if they are simultaneously storing their holiday pics, dog’s first birthday party videos and other private personal information on their device.
• Protect your clients: We’ve all become a lot more familiar with GDPR regulations over the past few years. It’s crucial more than ever that organisations ensure that the data of clients is kept safe, secure, and out of harm’s way.
• Protect your business: It is of the upmost importance to ensure that if you do consent to employees using their own devices, you have a clear policy in place to protect all business-related information on their device.

Before rolling out a company-wide BYOD policy, it is worth carefully considering the convenience of UYOD, versus the security of your company. It’s better to be prepared, than to leave your business and your employees vulnerable to internal and external threats.

If you do decide to support B/UYOD in your company, here’s a checklist of things to consider that will help your employees to remain productive, and your business to remain safe.

5 things to consider when developing your BYOD policy:

Specify approved devices

It’s worth clarifying how many devices per person you’re willing to approve so that you can keep track of them all.

Take an inventory of employee devices accessing your network

Similarly, taking a regular inventory of personal devices being used is vital. This will help you to ensure that each device is sufficiently protected, as well as making it easy to spot any new devices trying to access your data that you’re not aware of.

Have clear and consistent security and data ownership policies for all employees

Having consistent policies across the board will make life a lot easier for everyone involved.

Clarify the level of IT support that will be granted to each personal device

Having clear parameters for the support employees will get from the business if their personal devices break or are attacked is really important.

Conduct periodic audits of your BYOD policy

Staying ahead of the curb is without a doubt our number one tip when it comes to Cyber-security. Conducting audits of your policy will ensure that you are protected against any vulnerability to attack with devices that are not business owned.

See our progressive Cyber-security services that we can deliver, led by our experienced team here.

BYOD creates a lot of flexibility for employees and does often mean that employees are quick to get to work as they’re comfortable with their own device.

However, there are significant risks involved that must be considered before BYOD is established across your organisation.

It may be more cost effective to get your team corporate network devices rather than invest in the security, auditing and policies involved with BYOD.

Better safe than sorry!