Staff mobile data risks highlighted

According to InfoWatch’s Global Data Leakage Report the first half of 2014 saw 32% more leaks than in the same period in 2013. An estimated 450 million records were compromised, including financial and personal data across multiple sectors, with approximately 89% of information leaks involving personal data. With the number of smartphones and tablets on the rise, and a decrease in traditional PC sales, attacks on mobile devices are maturing. By 2017, Gartner predicts that the focus of endpoint breaches will shift to tablets and smartphones from traditional PCs. 

How can you ensure data doesn’t leak from your organization?

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is now a permanent feature of the IT landscape. It is no longer possible, let alone desirable, for most organizations to prevent employees from bringing their own devices to work. The need to control IT budgets, ensure productivity, and support flexible working hours (both in the office and remotely) are forcing information security teams to move to a presumption in favor of allowing staff to bring in their own smartphones, tablets, and even PCs.

Having several BYOD mobile devices linking to a corporate network will give many an IT director sleepless nights without a consistent security policy. The fact is that every single mobile device represents an endpoint where data could be lost, stolen, or compromised. A good BYOD solution offers IT departments the ability to monitor and correct security situations remotely, preventing unauthorized individuals from gaining access to private information. It also prevents employees from accidentally sharing information with others by implementing permissions and sharing restrictions. At all times, you should be able to tell who accessed what information and when.

The number of companies implementing BYOD policies increases as time goes on. Gartner predicts that forty percent of companies will exclusively rely on BYOD policies by 2016, and 85 percent of businesses will use some form of BYOD program by 2020.

For both employers and employees, BYOD is all about the best balance of access and restriction. For employers, BYOD offers business benefits such as: -    Reduced costs: a company doesn’t have to buy and upgrade mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.).  -    Improved productivity: If the employee is already familiar with the latest and greatest personal device, this can aid efficiency when used for work-related tasks.    

For employees, BYOD can also offer advantages such as: -    Better data protection: with IT staff taking steps to safeguard their systems and data, employees benefit from secure mobile content management (MCM) software that helps protect both their personal and corporate data. -    Ease of use: employees can choose the device that they are most comfortable using  -- and that, in turn, will help to improve business productivity as well as job satisfaction.

To get the full picture on the benefits, visit our website where you can learn more and download a free trial.