Bring Your Own Device Doesn't Mean Bring in Security Breach

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/bring-your-own-device-doesnt-mean-bring-50134/

Bring-Your-Own-Device (“BYOD”) policies have been picking up steam because
of increased productivity, improved communications, and the need for
employees to work remotely. However, when implementing any BYOD policy
there are many pitfalls that accompany these benefits. In some cases,
corporations, including manufacturers, overlook risks associated with their
current (or lack of) BYOD policies. Here are a few best practices that can
minimize some of the risks associated with BYOD policies.

1. Management Must Understand the Company’s BYOD structure. It is all too
easy for a company to reap the financial benefits which come from telling
employees “Sure, you can use your own device at work!” as a way to reduce
the company’s expenditures on hardware and software. However, such a
decision cannot be taken lightly. Management should solicit input from each
functional area of the business to assess the full impact of
implementation. It should be obvious that the IT department plays an
integral role in implementation but each level of management, including
supervisors, must also be involved.

2. BYOD Policies, Guidelines, and Compliance Should Be Mandatory. Clear
written policies and guidelines should be distributed. Counsel should
review the policies before finalizing and distributing the documents. More
importantly, effective implementation must be more than handing out a new
written policy and must involve face-to-face training and communications
where employees can ask questions. Ideally, like employment agreements,
BYOD policies should be signed by each employee.

3. BYOD Policies Should Address Devices’ Many Functions. Consider which
uses of GPS receivers, cameras, audio recorders, video recorders, mobile
storage capacities, and any other tracking/data capturing functionalities
should be permitted or prohibited. For example, consider disabling copying
from a local drive to a usb/miniusb port connected to a mobile device so as
to avoid either the intentional or inadvertent loss of the manufacturer’s
data. Also consider prohibiting the taking of photographs inside your
manufacturing plant as a way to protect your technology.

4. Prepare and Incorporate Data Loss Strategies. Despite the best laid
plans, data loss WILL occur, so you should plan for it in advance. The need
to protect information cannot be overstated. Getting employees to promptly
tell you they have lost their device is the first practical hurdle to
overcome. Thus, while developing BYOD policies, companies should create
plans to address lost or stolen devices.

5. Executives Must Be Included. Top-level personnel access the most
sensitive information and operate with less supervision than others. So
BYOD policies must include provisions to ensure even the most senior
individuals adhere to the policies. After all, these are the folks that
“hold the keys to the company safe.

6. Security Principles to Consider. When drafting or updating your BYOD
policy, include provisions incorporating security best practices. For
example, passwords should be changed every 60–90 days and should not be
associated with social media profiles. Also, business data transferred to
and from devices should occur via highly secure connections.

As technology continues to evolve, so must your policies. As technology
becomes more integrated, your employees may insist on incorporating devices
into their work lives. No BYOD policy is one-size-fits-all, but following
these best practices will help create a foundation to mitigate the
substantial risks associated with devices becoming ubiquitous business
tools.

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