Page 31 - index

The Two Sides of BYOD

Employer vs. Employee

By George Anderson, Product Marketing Director, Webroot Inc.

The vast number of articles and papers on bring your own device (BYOD) that advise employers
on how to secure employee devices is no surprise. With exponential growth in malware and
potentially unwanted apps (PUAs), particularly on the Android™ platform, the stakes and risks
have never been greater.

BYOD security management adds complications that businesses have never been faced with --
devices owned by employees that contain corporate data, also hold employees’ personal data.
Before mandating security practices, it’s important to understand both employer and employee
attitudes towards mobile security and how organizations are planning to implement BYOD.
Otherwise, the employee/employer differences in attitude to risk are likely to erode considerable
gains BYOD brings to both parties. In the process of providing mobile security to organizations,
we uncovered a disconnect between the employer and employee when it comes to BYOD.

We conducted two major surveys with employers and employees and were pleasantly surprised
to find some striking areas of agreement. But conversely, there were also strong signs that
many employees do not take adequate steps to protect company information, a weakness that
could result in critical security breakdowns. There was also evidence that while employers often
pay only lip service to consult with employees over BYOD security, and that this attitude can
create problems given the widespread adoption of personal devices within the workplace.

Details
On Webroot’s behalf, Harris Poll conducted two online surveys—one surveyed IT professionals
1
in companies with 500+ employees in March-April 2014. The second surveyed adults with
2
mobile devices employed full or part-time in December 2013. The results reported in this article
reference these surveys.

Common Ground
BYOD can be a win-win proposition. Employees use devices they are comfortable with to help
achieve work/life balance and this results in added personal productivity. Employers benefit
from expanding the technology available to their workforce without added expense.

Challenges
Perhaps the greatest challenge of BYOD is that personal devices being used for work are
overwhelmingly mobile—smartphones or tablets. Mobile devices present security issues that

31 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – October 2014 Edition
Copyright © Cyber Defense Magazine, All rights reserved worldwide