BYOD best practices for cybersecurity-conscious enterprises

TODAY, most organizations are concerned about the vulnerabilities of their cybersecurity plan and are constantly making efforts to mitigate threats as far as possible.

One of the biggest concerns for companies is the bring your own device (BYOD) policy that most are forced to adopt — and even if the organization insists on using company devices, nothing stops employees from accessing the company network and email via personal devices (on external networks).

As a result, there are a few things that cybersecurity consultants recommend to organizations, in order to help them avoid the risks associated with running a BYOD-friendly environment:

# 1 | Train everyone about cybersecurity

One of the biggest challenges for any cybersecurity team is the general lack of awareness across the organization. Several thought leaders at various forums have emphasized that awareness and training are critical when it comes to enforcing an effective cybersecurity plan.

The need for training becomes even more critical when it comes to BYOD-friendly environments since the number of end-points increase significantly, creating greater vulnerability for the overall network.

Whether it’s a new cell phone, a tablet, or even a USB stick, every member of staff must understand the risks and take the right steps  (such as ensuring device firmware and antivirus software are updated on time) before connecting a new device.

# 2 | Implement an EMM solution

Some of the largest organizations in the world offer BYOD-friendly work environments, however, they use a strong enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution in order to determine which devices can access the company network and which cannot.

Using an EMM solution is a great idea, especially for organizations spanning two or more continents. However, the cybersecurity team must make sure that the solution that is procured supports as many kinds of devices as possible, and provides support for new(er) devices as soon as they hit the shelves.

In addition, when deploying an EMM solution, it’s a good idea to keep a database of permissioned devices along with details of employees they’re mapped to — when someone leaves the organization, it’s critical that the team remembers to revoke access for these devices.

# 3 | Ensure compliance doesn’t hamper the experience

One of the most important things when it comes to creating rules to keep the enterprise network secure is to make sure those rules don’t hamper the experience.

The goal is to make authentication in a BYOD-friendly environment almost invisible, rather than a challenging or complicated process.

For those implementing an EMM solution, ensure that the staff is able to gain access to the network via their devices in a fairly easy way — otherwise, they’ll look for alternative ways to get the job done — which might create additional cybersecurity challenges.

---

---

---

---