READ: The 5 Hot Tips to Secure Your BYOD Workplace

CITATION
Voice, F. N. (2012). The 5 Hot Tips to Secure Your BYOD Workplace  Retrieved May 25, 2013, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/netapp/2012/08/28/the-5-most-common-tips-to-secure-your-bring-your-own-device-workplace/
 
URL
http://www.forbes.com/sites/netapp/2012/08/28/the-5-most-common-tips-to-secure-your-bring-your-own-device-workplace/

Good article but nothing new.  It does mention that Kraft, Whirlpool and some divisions of IBM have established BYOD guidelines.  It also suggests 5 items for security:

1. Devices must be password protected
2. Corporate information must never be stored locally
3. Data must be encapsulated and backed up, frequently
4. Applications may only be downloaded from sites that have been deemed trustworthy by the IT organization
5. Mobile devices must support the ability to be remotely wiped of all data in the event they are lost or stolen.

 I like number 2 because I thought of it a few days ago before reading this article.  So I am doing well.  I am forming some definite ideas on how to implement BYOD and at the same time have a system that secures it.

By: Nima Zahadat

READ: Pros and Cons of Bring Your Own Device

CITATION
Dodd, C. (2013). Pros and Cons of Bring Your Own Device  Retrieved May 25, 2013, 2013, from http://turbinehq.com/2013/bring-your-own-device/ 

URL
http://turbinehq.com/2013/bring-your-own-device/

Overall a good article though it presented nothing new other than some statistics.  Based on the article

•  Two thirds of small businesses and three quarter of larger organizations support a BYOD initiative
• Those employers refusing BYOD will find that employees will bring and use their devices regardless

Directly from the article:

Pros

• People have a vested interest in understanding how to use their own devices. Employees will naturally be more savvy and self-supporting, meaning a reduction in the need for IT support.
• With the flexibility of the where and when of work that BYOD offers, many suggest it can provide a significant increase in productivity. A Huffington Post article highlights that in one quarter, Intel saw 640,000 emails sent via mobile phones, equating to an extra 51 minutes of productivity per day.
• Being able to use personal devices to work on professional tasks is a big step forward in integrating people’s working and personal lives: having that flexibility can greatly improve employee satisfaction and retention.

Cons

• The biggest, loudest concern sounded from all quarters is security. 
• Following behind is the difficult switch in mindset for managers as they lose control and oversight over their employees. If people can work anytime, anywhere on a device that a manager has no right to access, they have to find new ways to measure productivity.

Solutions: security

• Mobile device management allows companies to effectively create specific apps for their employee’s devices that they can control and encrypt as necessary. It can also allow companies access to wipe devices that have been stolen or lost. Some cloud applications work entirely virtually, meaning employees can access and edit data without it ever actually being downloaded onto their personal device.
• CYOD is a new trend emerging amongst enterprises, meaning choose your own device. The device remains company owned and controlled but employees have a say in which device they use and some of it’s configuration.
• This Forbes article lists five helpful tips to secure your BYOD workplace.

Solutions: people

• Find a balance between freedom and control. Whilst you may need to monitor some employee behaviour on their personal devices, think carefully about the contents and transparency of your BYOD policy.
• Learn to measure productivity by output rather than hours at the desk. In a cross over with remote working, embracing a BYOD culture means embracing a new style of management and collaboration. Trust your employees.
• Pay attention to how your staff is using their devices. The emphasis of BYOD should be the ‘your’ rather than ‘device’. The momentum behind the trend is that people are finding new, efficient and innovative ways of working, so you should pay attention to how and why they are using their devices. For example, if your staff are using Evernote to collate and share information, don’t rush to ban the app, but instead consider paying for Evernote Pro to encrypt the data and support your staff’s efforts to make their jobs and lives easier.

 By: Nima Zahadat

READ: Mobile Device Management Key Components, V1.0

CITATION
Alliance, C. S. (2012). Mobile Device Management Key Components, V1.0 (pp. 1-11): CSA.

This is a great paper and divides MDM into various parts marking them as Must Haves or Optional.  Interestingly I found the Optionals to be more relevant to BYOD.  Here are some excerpts:

• MDM is a critical component of the device life cycle
• Well defined policy provides management direction and support for IT and information security and is the foundation for a solid MDM framework implementation

 

• As part of risk management organizations should perform risk assessment periodically
• Configuration management involves automated configuration of device settings
• Software distribution includes updates for apps and OS, fixes, backups and restores
• An enterprise app store is recommended
• An active content library is recommended
• Finance department is responsible for monitoring and controlling mobility costs
• Privacy cannot be bargained away
• Selective wipes and remote wipes are must haves
• While most companies have a security policy in place, those policies need to be reviewed and possibly updated to account for the many components of mobile technology
• Everything has to start with the basic understanding of the triangle, People, Process, and Technology

By: Nima Zahadat