A survey by TNS Infratest commissioned by Kaspersky Lab claims that just 35 percent of IT managers have admitted having strict rules in place to understand and control company information on personal devices – despite the upsurge in BYOD corporate policy.
Many SMBs are not taking the implications that come with BYOD serious enough, the report suggests. More and more employees are using their own devices in the workplace, and the study points to the over 500,000 mobiles stolen in 2011/2012 as reason enough management should be making more considerations. “Businesses can face company data falling into the wrong hands if not effectively managed,” TNS says.
Because smartphones and tablets are a desirable target for pickpockets and thieves, IT managers must know precisely what corporate information is on their employees’ devices. A sandbox style approach to operating systems can help here.
Kaspersky’s senior security researcher David Emm said in a statement that “only when clear BYOD rules are in place can adequate steps be taken to build robust security, should a device be lost or stolen”.
“To best protect data a policy should include file encryption, blocking access to the corporate network and, in the best case, wiping all data on the device,” Emm said.
This survey questioned 1,762 IT decision makers all over Europe. Companies with 10-500 employees were surveyed.
