Businesses are increasingly accommodating the BYOD trend amongst employees, which means they can bring personal gadgets to the workplace and use them to access company data, email, software and apps remotely.
But less than a third have PINs or passcodes set up, and just over a quarter have either a company data encryption service in use, or an online self-service user portal connected to their devices.
Only around a fifth of BYOD owners say they would be concerned if they lost their devices due to the threat of others accessing sensitive and private information, while 16 per cent said they would only be concerned because their data is not backed up. More than a third of BYOD owners are concerned about the cost of replacing lost and stolen devices.
Stephen Ebbett, director of Protect Your Bubble, comments: “The BYOD culture benefits employees who, understandably, want just one all-singing smartphone to do the job of two, but it can make businesses more prone to security breaches if devices fall into the wrong hands.
“Mobile devices are highly susceptible to loss and theft, constituting more than a third of Protect Your Bubble’s total claims each year. Specialist gadget insurance can help businesses avoid unexpected costs should employees lose or have their gadgets stolen by covering them for loss and theft worldwide – as well as damage, breakdown and unauthorised calls – and aim to replace missing phones within 48 hours. But it’s up to companies to keep a firm handle on devices given to employees, and know who is accessing information in order to protect sensitive data.
“Training employees to properly configure their security settings, to not open attachments from unverified sources, and controlling or limiting access to more sensitive data from portable devices are three examples of precautions businesses can take.”
