--Originally published at Security – Carlos Rueda Blog

 

In the not too distant past, employees had no choice but to work at a company’s office or on a company laptop or phone.  As mobile electronic devices (tablets and smartphones, for example) became both more accessible and affordable, this changed.  Now employees can work virtually anywhere and it’s becoming more and more common for them to use devices for both personal and work purposes.

Many individuals own multiple mobile devices.  One person may own a smartphone, tablet, and laptop computer.  An employer may also offer employees one or more company-owned devices. For some, it’s both inconvenient and less productive to carry company-issued and personal devices.  Others may prefer a specific technology or brand, or simply be annoyed by having to carry multiple devices.

Employers will assume legal, security, reputational, and other business-related risks when their employees use a device for both personal and work-related purposes. This is largely because employers lose control when employees use their own devices and networks to store and transmit company data.  The same is true when employees use company-owned devices for personal purposes.

There is also the issue with the government having access to our data. With the cases of the NSA Mass Surveillance program PRISM coming to light, we have to ask ourselves how much privacy we actually have, because the way the NSA obtained all this information was by DEMANDING that Internet Service Providers, Cellphone Carriers and many big tech companies submit their user data to the NSA.

There is also the recent case of the San Bernarding mass shooting in 2015, where the FBI requested access to the iPhone to one of the shooters to Apple, essentially requesting them to create a backdoor that would let them have access to the device. Apple opposed and denied the request, smart Continue reading "Government and Business Ethics on Personal Devices Security" →