Playing it smart

Many information technology officers remain hesitant to support the idea of "bring your own device," or BYOD in short, and it is not the trend itself going wrong.mini storage It's about the users, a survey recently revealed. However, the situation is improving as more IT managers are deploying applications for mobile security. IBM said in a report that mobile security tops the list of the most recently deployed technology by enterprises over the past 12 months. It is simply because more employees prefer working on their smartphones and tablets to get into corporate systems, touching on files and important information, the study showed. Another survey has the figures to back this claim.Among 1,600 IT professionals surveyed, more than 80 percent said employees of their organization are using personal devices and applications for work, according to the Dimension Data Secure Enterprise Mobility Report. The problem is that only 32 percent have conducted security audits of applications run on mobile devices. And 90 percent of survey participants said they simply could not stop employees from using their personal devices to access company systems. These IT managers said they badly wanted to have control over security. Although experts are working hard to close loopholes in various networks, many just cannot catch up with the overwhelming growth of mobile devices getting connected with their enterprise's servers. And that is why many IT chiefs are reluctant to support BYOD and enterprise mobility, given the vast explosion of personal devices and applications getting into the networks. "Unknowns significantly increase the opportunity for intrusion, so when organizations are aware of the mobile devices on their networks, as well as the applications that can be accessed via these devices, they'll be able to not only identify rogue devices, but also track new applications coming into their enterprise," said Matthew Gyde, general manager for security solutions at Dimension Data, which conducted a global survey of IT staff in organizations with more than 250 employees. "Another key benefit of knowing what mobile devices are on the corporate network is the ability to monitor user adoption of mobile enterprise applications." Other figures also suggest it is imperative that stri儲存t policies are in place before companies can welcome BYOD with open arms. Less than 30 percent of the surveyed IT leaders said their organization has adopted well-defined network policies for mobility. Just 29 percent of those decision-makers confirmed that their organization limits non-employees' and guests' access to their organization's network from personal devices. Indeed, many IT managers consider employee use of personal mobile devices as potentially dangerous, costly and not business critical, the report said. "From a security perspective, this negative view of BYOD is understandable, considering that the extent and depth of the risk has not been adequately measured against business policy," Gyde said. "That's because many organizations have yet to evaluate the impact of mobility beyond the device itself." IBM noted that adoption of new security technologies is not necessarily being applied with a clear understanding of what is being protected - meaning the gap between technology and policy is yet to be filled. "The primary mobile challenge for security leaders is to advance beyond the initial steps and think less about technology and more about policy and strategy," IBM said in the report titled 2013 IBM Chief Information Security Officer Assessment. In fact, for many IT managers, "a comprehensive mobile policy and strategy for personal devices is not yet widely used or considered important," according to IBM's report. One of the most obvious threats is the loss of devices. Many IT managers are concerned about lost and stolen devices - probably leading to loss of data - as more employees are turning to mobile gadgets. And with the increasing popularity of the cloud, tech chiefs take privacy and security seriously and launch data monitoring and auditing, identity and access management in the early stage. The Hong Kong Productivity Council has urged web users, information security experts and policymakers to step up efforts to tackle cyber threats, amid fast-growing use of cloud services on mobile devices. "Data protection has become an enormous challenge for both policymakers and the industry," said council executive director Agnes Mak Tang Pik-yee. She is right, and the challenge is also there for many IT chiefs. tony.liaw@singtaonewscorp.com 迷你倉