Posted on by Clive Catton

BYOD Bring-Your-Own-Device – A Primer (pt.1)

This is a short series looking at the basics, the benefits and the risks of Bring-Your-Own-Device or BYOD. Today we are going to look at the most useful benefits.

Defining BYOD

Let’s start with a definition of what BYOD – Bring-Your-Own-Device is.

To qualify, a device must be owned by an employee or third party that your organisation has authorised to access “organisation data” using that device.

The device is not owned by the organisation, but the information accessed and processed on the device is.

BYOD the easy way

If the owner of the device will allow corporate monitoring and management software to be installed on the device then BYOD becomes very simple, enclosing these devices within the organisation’s security.

However – especially in a small organisation – this is not normally the case.

BYOD – what it offers

Bring-Your-Own-Device has benefits for both the organisation and the employee.

  • Users get to use the IT they are comfortable with. (This argument is often made to me when my advice is “supply an organisation-owned laptop” but the user says they really like their Mac.)
  • The organisation saves money not having to purchase hardware.
  • BYOD enables hybrid working for both the employee and the employer.
  • The organisation gets resiliency when the employee cannot access their regular place of work.
  • BYOD, when it comes to employee phones, makes them happy not having to carry two phones.
BYOD in action
BYOD in action. Me, in a cafe, writing this article on my iPhone with my keyboard.

With so many benefits why am I writing this article?

For this to work, the organisation has to accept the risk – however small – of information they are responsible for being available on a device they exercise little real control over.

Trust

Trust in the employee is a key part of understanding BYOD and the cyber security risk it creates. If you allow your team to use their own devices and you have never thought of it as a trust issue, then the following parts of this primer will be essential reading.

Part 2 to follow next week.

Clive Catton MSc (Cyber Security) – by-line and other articles

Do you want to know more?

Further Reading

Are you using Bring Your Own Device – BYOD – to save money?

Featured photo by Lisa Fotios

Coffee photo by www.clivecatton.co.uk