How BYOD affects security in the cloud
Since bringing your own device – also known as BYOD – is starting to become widely adopted by companies of all sizes, a lot of contradictory discussions have appeared around this topic. Eliminating hardware purchasing and maintenance is a great advantage for reducing company costs. Employees also benefit from this new trend the most because they are free to choose what device to use to fit their personal and business needs.
However, the main challenge with BYOD is securing a wide variety of devices. Therefore, enterprises have turned to SaaS, solutions because they can make data more secure and reducing the likelihood of user error. Google Apps allows users to use documents or emails, but none of this data is stored on the hardware device, so risks to physical data loss decrease significantly.
Another important aspect to consider is user error. Taking into account that 63% of users losing data is attributed to user error. If the employee has the chance to use the device they feel more comfortable and familiar with, it would most likely lead to less mistakes.
To make sure that cloud computing and BYOD successfully co-exist in enterprises, support processes have been defined by many organizations. These help employees to work from a mobile device within the corporate network securely.
Here are the main topics you should consider so BYOD will not affect security in the cloud:
- create rules for accessing corporate applications
- address use policies that are acknowledged by all employees
- develop policies that apply in the situation when a employee changes its job and the company needs to have access to the data
- implement tools to identify and reduce breaches from being introduced into the organization
Employees appreciate the chance to choose the device they’ll work from. This gives them more freedom, more control and their motivation will increase considerably, which is an added benefit for the company. Before adopting BYOD policies within your company, make sure you understand both the benefits and the shortcomings of this trend and take the most appropriate decisions according to your business needs.
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