BYOD, Security, and You

Got MDM Security?

Stephen Nardone

By now, you’re probably well aware of the growing trend of BYOD and how important it is to put a security plan in place for the employee-owned devices that will be accessing your organization’s network and data. Read on, and I’ll give you a rundown of five things to make sure you consider before you begin to implement BYOD at your organization.

1. You can’t control everything on your employees’ personal devices. But you will have to put a plan in place for maintaining enough control over these devices. Draw up clear, restrictive usage policies.

2. There are 3 application architectures you can consider for managing the new fleet of devices: native mode, browser-based, and virtual mode. Find out which approach will work best for your organization – many organizations are now using a hybrid of native mode and virtual mode.

3. Since employee-supported devices will now contain a combination of personal and business data, you’ll need to outline a very clear End User Agreement (EUA). Be absolutely clear what the employee can and cannot do with their device when it is connected to your organization’s network.

4. You’ll also need a plan for handling lost or stolen devices. What types of data will likely be stored on employee-owned devices? Make sure to include plans to mitigate unauthorized access and data loss into your overall strategy.

5. In order to manage, track, and secure mobile devices you will need an MDM (Mobile Device Management) tool to ensure corporate polices and security are in place on every device. Most importantly, an MDM tool will allow you to delete corporate data if the phone is lost or the employee leaves the company. Depending on the MDM tool you choose, there are lots of other options and control functions you can use to get the most out of your mobile devices and BYOD environment.

For more in-depth information on implementing security policies for your BYOD strategy, take a look at our solutions story.

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