72% of Organizations Believe BYOD is the Way to Go

Mobile devices continue to be an important part of doing business, and organizations are ready and willing to accept them into the workplace environment with open arms. Yet, the fact remains that doing so can be of significant risk. Believe it or not, the majority of businesses overwhelmingly support mobile devices, but don’t put measures into place that can protect them in the event of a hacking attack or data leak.

Data leakage is a primary concern for any business using employee-owned mobile devices in the workplace. Every business has sensitive information that cannot be exposed under any circumstances, and it’s the business owner’s responsibility to make sure that policies are put into place to protect this data.

A study by Bitglass reveals that 72 percent of many different types of organizations, including financial, technology, healthcare, government, and education, believe that BYOD should be supported for at least some of their employees. In terms of mobile device management, however, only a meager 14 percent of these organizations use some way of protecting corporate data with device encryption. This is a significant disparity, and one that should be considered when your organization implements a BYOD strategy.

You can’t allow your business to be the next to fall victim to mobile security threats. With a mobile device management solution from Macro Systems, your business can have full control over the devices that your employees want to use for their work roles, as well as the flow of data that’s stored on them. Below are some of the many features available for a mobile device management solution:

• Whitelisting and blacklisting apps: Some applications will request access to information stored on a mobile device, but some won’t have any real reason to have access it. For example, a flashlight app has no business accessing your phone’s contacts or geographical location. By whitelisting and blacklisting apps, you can minimize your data’s exposure to threats.
• Role-based user access: One of the easiest ways to minimize danger to your organization’s data is to limit who has access to it. By integrating role-based user access, you can allow your team to access data that they need to do their jobs properly, and keep them accessing that which they don’t.
• Remote wiping: Sometimes the best way to prevent a data breach is by remotely wiping data from a lost or stolen device. You shouldn’t rely on the device showing up, especially if it were left in a public place like a bus or subway station. You should always be prepared for a worst-case scenario like this.

For more information about BYOD and our mobile device management solution, reach out to Macro Systems at (703) 359-9211.