EMPLOYEES’ DEVICES CAN WORK FOR YOU BUT PREPARE AHEAD
HOW DOES THE REQUIREMENT FOR NETWORK SECURITY DIFFER IN A BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE WORKPLACE, THAN IN A WORKPLACE WITH FIXED DEVICES?
In a workplace with fixed devices, security was simpler. You could secure entry to the corporate network via firewalls and intrusion protection. With an increasingly mobile workforce using a variety of devices, the network now needs to know who the user is, what device the user is accessing the network from, what application they are trying to access and where they are. A company may, for example, wish to allow an employee to access all applications from their iPad while in an office but block access to some applications when that same user is accessing the same network on the same device but from a coffee shop. This “context-aware” security is a fundamental requirement of truly securing a bring your own device (BYOD) workplace.
WHAT ARE THE TOP 3 THINGS A COMPANY SHOULD DO TO ENABLE A BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE POLICY?
Firstly, provide a means of delivering the “context-aware” security capabilities I just described, so that access policies can be set dependent on device, user and location. Secondly, the whole point of these mobile devices is that you can be mobile – therefore, ensure every personal device is equipped with a software client that ensures continuous, secure access to the corporate network as a user moves between wireless and 3G networks. And finally, to avoid employee dissatisfaction and loss of productivity, build a business-critical wireless network so that these devices stay connected as quickly and reliably as laptops previously would.
HOW DO YOU SEE THE BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE PHENOMENON PROGRESSING?
The consumerisation of devices is clearly happening faster than predicted and a need to embrace it as a standalone trend is obvious. But other trends in the marketplace – such as cloud, video and virtual desktop – will come together with BYOD, bringing more complexity to the situation. Companies who embrace BYOD now will be better prepared for those. For example, Gartner predict 90 per cent of the world’s internet traffic will be video by 2015 – adopting personal devices now will ensure a company is better able to cope with those devices when they are being used for video collaboration in the coming years. Similarly, securing BYOD devices now will better prepare a company for deploying those same devices in a virtual desktop environment.