Bring Your Own Device, Don’t Forget Security

Mobile devices have become so seamlessly integrated in our lives that we don’t think twice about completing any kind of transaction across our phones or tablets – making a purchase, depositing money into the bank or checking email for work.

These devices have become our personal assistants in both our work and personal lives, which is why more businesses are embracing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environments.

According to Forrester, Inc., in 2016, 350 million employees will use smartphones and 200 million will bring their own devices to the workplace.

However, the increase in BYOD represents one of the greatest challenges and opportunities facing organizations and governments today.

Employees benefit from staying connected to work email and data when they are away from the office.

But, to accommodate access from personal mobile devices, many IT departments have relaxed their standards and security to find cost-effective ways to connect disparate devices through a firewall.

In a global survey of executives, 49 percent stated the complexity of securing multiple data sources is a top challenge, while 48 percent reported they lacked knowledge of mobile-access security. In mobile computing, security is most effective when it’s baked in from the ground up, not layered on or strung together.

A patchwork of third-party security products is not adequate in a multi-platform environment, because it leaves the user susceptible to security breaches and interrupts the overall user experience.

The lowered level of security can also become a concern for both the enterprise as IT managers will reduce the level of management capabilities, and the end user as core functionality such as Web browsing and access to app stores is disabled.

In this case, the CIO is forced to marginalize the investment in mobility, making it just about email and calendar updates – missing an opportunity to really transform the business. 

Getting this balance between user experience and security right is the most important success factor for the CIO in today’s BYOD world.

For optimal security, organizations should seek out solutions that are capable of meeting corporate network requirements while concurrently providing three layers of security at the device, server and network level.

 With the right mobile container solution, organizations don’t have to compromise their security requirements to allow employees to carry the devices they choose. But the challenge becomes preventing the secure mobile computing environment from encroaching on the user experience.

The key point of embracing BYOD is offering employees technology that makes them more efficient as they transition from work to personal tasks.

To achieve this, their smartphone or tablet needs to provide the same capabilities as they have on a desktop: attaching emails, browsing the Web, toggling between work/personal environments, using applications, accessing Documents to Go, and much more.

These capabilities help organizations of any size and from any vertical arm their employees with secure devices that meet the demands of their job while keeping total cost of ownership down.

Another important fact to remember about BYOD security solutions is how the market has demonstrated the superiority of management systems and infrastructure that support multiple devices running varied operating systems.

In an environment where mobile technology innovation moves so quickly, organizations need to think about security solutions that provide the flexibility to adopt future technological advances.

For employees, the ultimate value in BYOD is the ability to have both work and personal functionality on a single device that is capable of keeping their data separate and secure. With the right BYOD solution, organizations will be able to strike the right balance between security, user experience and total cost of ownership.

Scott Totzke is responsible for maintaining, consistently, high standard for the security of BlackBerry products and services and helping to shape BlackBerry’s regulatory compliance, lawful access and privacy strategies on global scale.
His organization includes enterprise product management and strategy, security product life cycle management, operations and government sales. He founded and directs the BlackBerry Security teams that have made the transparency of its security solutions BlackBerry’s single biggest differentiator in enterprise and consumer markets. BlackBerry solutions continue to lead the mobile industry in certifications and security approvals, meeting the strict requirements of government and other security conscious organizations.