What Is BYOD?

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a policy that enables employees to bring their own devices to work, such as phones, laptops, or tablets. Employees will use their tools in and out of the workplace thanks to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). 

It implies you may use your tools while working in the workplace. And if you’re at home, you may do the work using the same tools. BYOD is cost-effective, promotes employee comfort, links company, and employee, and is, above all, productive. 

Smartphones, laptops, tablets, and USB drives are examples of personal devices.

BYOD solutions are becoming increasingly common as more companies enable employees to work from home, having a flexible schedule, or connecting on the move when traveling or commuting. Some organizations may allow BYOD, while others may regard it as “shadow IT,” or software or hardware that is not backed by IT.

BYOD has four fundamental choices or levels of access:

• Personal devices have unrestricted access.
• Only non-sensitive systems and data are accessible.
• Access to personal devices, applications, and stored data, but with IT control
• Data can be accessed, but it cannot be stored locally on personal devices.

What Is The Importance Of BYOD Security?

Because personal devices are likely to infiltrate the office whether or not they are sanctioned by IT, BYOD security is an essential subject for corporate executives. BYOD solutions may boost employee productivity and morale in many situations. On the other hand, personal device access to an organization’s network, if left ignored by IT, can pose severe security risks.

How to Create a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) Policy

IT organizations must decide whether and how to safeguard personal devices, as well as access levels. Above all, a stated BYOD security policy should advise and educate workers on using BYOD without risking company data or networks.

The following are essential aspects of BYOD policies:

• Devices that have been approved
• Guidelines on data security and ownership
• Personal devices are given different levels of IT assistance (if any)

Overall, IT security and permissible usage rules should be linked with a solid BYOD security policy. IT executives must balance corporate security and workers’ privacy when determining the level of assistance they will provide for personal devices.

Manage Your Policy Using BYOD Security Solutions

The easiest way to create and enforce a BYOD policy is to use a BYOD security solution like Forcepoint’s CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker). A business may use Forcepoint CASB to discover and categorize cloud apps for access risk and pinpoint which services to enable and monitor.

Furthermore, by clearly differentiating between managed and unmanaged BYOD devices, the solution may implement unique access and security controls on a per-device basis.

Pros and Cons of Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD)

The following are some of the benefits of allowing employees to bring their own devices to work:

• According to research, a 16% increase in employee productivity over a 40-hour workweek is possible.
• Supporting flexible work options increased employee job satisfaction and retention.
• Employee productivity increases as a result of their increased comfort and efficiency using their own devices.
• Without IT spending on hardware, software licencing, or device upkeep, upgraded technologies are incorporated into the workplace.

Employees that use personal devices on the job may face the following disadvantages:

• Data breaches may occur due to lost or stolen personal devices or personnel leaving the organization.
• Personal devices do not have a firewall or antivirus software installed.
• If the department decides to assist personal devices, IT costs may rise.
• The absence of a network.

Conclusion

BYOD solutions have the potential to improve employee productivity. They do, however, increase network risks by accessing sensitive data on unsupported and unprotected personal devices.

BYOD offers benefits and drawbacks, but all IT departments must be informed and proactive because of its increasing prevalence. Policies on BYOD management are becoming increasingly common in businesses, and they’re critical for dealing with what may be a complex security problem.