Historically, where employee-owned devices are concerned, company efforts to protect data and assets on mobile devices have focused on controlling the actual devices. That is changing, however. Today, there is a growing realization among businesses that implementing comprehensive protection also means enacting some form of control over the apps employees use on those devices.
WHY BE CONCERNED
Why bother controlling app usage? In a word: security. Primarily, companies fear that employees will download malicious apps that introduce any number of exploits that could enable a hacker to take control of the device. There’s also the worry that employees could make company data vulnerable by using apps that share and sync.
“It’s becoming increasingly dificult to separate corporate technology use from personal technology use, regardless of who owns the device,” says Mike Battista, research analyst with Info-Tech Research Group (www.infotech.com). “This is particularly true when you bring the cloud into it. If an app—be it an actual downloaded app or just a Web service—stores data in the cloud, it doesn’t matter that it’s a companyowned device. The data all goes to where the employee wants it to. That can be a problem if there is information the business wanted to keep within company walls.”
Click here for full article Page 44