Bring Your Own Device (BYOD): We’re seeing a lot of company policies encouraging employees to “bring your own devices” (smartphones, laptops, and tablets). The thinking is that if employees get to use devices they’re familiar with and happy with, then you’ll be able to recruit and keep happy workers. There are cost savings (from the company not buying devices) and supposedly increased productivity. But…
- during the employment relationship or at termination, it’s hard/impossible to get access to employee-owned devices to confirm misappropriation of trade secrets;
- such devices are loaded with personal data — financial data on taxes and investments, family or other personal photos, videos, etc.
- greater likelihood of friends, family members, etc. borrowing or using a personal device and thus exposed to company information.
- some security solutions like keystroke/keylogging software really are bad mojo to try sneaking onto a person’s personal device.
- lack of separation between work and home devices also opens up more potential opportunities for malware that can cause bigger problems re: hackers and breaches.
Learn more about this complex topic with the PrivacyRules expert John Eastwood from Eiger in Taiwan