March 2019 AST Magazine March 2019 AST Magazine | Page 24

www.AmericanSecurityToday.com
March 2019 - Edition 33
Bring your own device —also called bring your own technology, bring your own phone, and bring
your own personal computer —refers to the policy of permitting employees to bring personally
owned devices to their workplace, and to use those devices to access privileged company informa-
tion and applications.
It is broadly defined as any technology BYOD – A Serious Security Risk
device owned by the employee and to
which the employer has given permis- Unencrypted USB drives (also com-
sion to be used on the job.
monly known as removable media,
A partial listing of such devices includes: flash drives, thumb drives and other
cameras, mobile devices, tablets, laptops, terms) pose a major risk.
PCs and USB flash drives.
While the BYOD concept offers varied ad- While they have revolutionized data
vantages, each of these devices also pres- transport, they have also introduced
ent their own special problems and risks. grave security concerns.
This article focuses on the cyber security
risks of using BYOD unencrypted USB
drives, which singlehandedly can negate
millions of dollars spent on cyber secu-
rity, whether intentionally or through care-
lessness.
With their extreme portability, USB
drives can turn up anywhere – from
jacket pockets to parking lots to
bad actors – putting governmental
data at risk.
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