14 DAY TRIAL // A study performed by YouGov for the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) shows that while 47% of adults use their personal mobile devices for work activities, less than 30% of them are provided with guidance on how to utilize them without putting sensitive information at risk.
As such, the ICO has published a new guide which details the risks organizations must consider if the decide to allow their employees to use their personal devices for work-related tasks.
“The rise of smartphones and tablet devices means that many of the common daily tasks we would have previously carried out on the office computer can now be worked on remotely. While these changes offer significant benefits to organisations, employers must have adequate controls in place to make sure this information is kept secure,” the ICO’s Simon Rice said.
“The cost of introducing these controls can range from being relatively modest to quite significant, depending on the type of processing being considered, and might even be greater than the initial savings expected. Certainly the sum will pale into insignificance when you consider the reputational damage caused by a serious data breach,” he added.
The recommendations made by the ICO include the use of strong passwords to secure devices, the use of encryption, the implementation of policies which clearly define what can and what cannot be stored on personal devices, and the use of remote wipe features in case unauthorized access is detected.
The ICO also advises organizations to avoid using cloud-based sharing and public backup services that haven’t been vetted properly.
“Our guidance aims to help organisations develop their own policies by highlighting the issues they must consider. For example, does the organisation know where personal data is being stored at any one time?” Rice noted.
“Do they have measures in place to keep the information accurate and up-to-date? Is there a failsafe system so that the device can be wiped remotely if lost or stolen?”
The ICO’s BYOD guide is available here. The complete study performed by YouGov can be accessed here.