Corporate Security Protocols and Guidelines for BYOD must be developed

Devanathan Balaji
Principal Consultant – Cyber Security, NTT Ltd. India 

“While BYOD has been around for a while now, its significance has resurfaced with the remote working scenario brought about by the pandemic. In the current situation, we are witnessing a considerable uptick in the number of devices entering the ecosystem. Employees have no choice but to access corporate resources from less secure devices outside the secured corporate perimeter, opening opportunities for cyber criminals to infiltrate networks. Add to this, employees are now more reliant on remote conferencing and collaboration tools, which are also susceptible to various threats. All this has led to many unprecedented changes and added layers of security complexity, which enterprises were not necessarily prepared for.

Organizations are now gearing up for the post-COVID world, where enabling productivity of remote workers will be as important as other business priorities. This, however, must be done while keeping security at the core and embedded in every business decision undertaken. While several security solutions exist, considering workloads and data moving to cloud organization should look security holistically and try to adapt Zero trust framework to improve the security posture.

IT teams must develop and implement corporate security protocols and guidelines for BYOD, put in place roles and responsibility for remote access and limit personal device access to corporate services. Integration of multifactor authentication protocols, implementing screen locks, encryption of devices that transmit data to and from the servers and in case of theft, and enforcing tighter controls over home network security through use of VPNs are key features that a comprehensive security solution must also incorporate. Al and ML can also play a role in unearthing cyber threats, by analysing data and thereafter predicting any threats and abnormalities before it exploits a vulnerability in the information system. Through ML, a subset of AI, computers could apply and adapt algorithms on data, further learn from it and recommend corrections, as required.

Lastly, allocation of resources and budgets must also be reconsidered and not limited to revenue generation and operational efficiency. Along with technology spending, there will be a need to allocate resources specifically towards strengthening remote working capabilities and effective security awareness programs as people impact security outcomes than technology or process.”