Category: BYOD

Israel Lifshitz

According to a recent Gartner report, “by 2016, 20% of enterprise BYOD programs will fail due to deployment of mobile device management measures that are too restrictive.” Creating balanced BYOD policies that ensure your organization’s data security is no small feat. If your policies are too restrictive, no one will participate. You need to think outside of the security box. These 5 tips can help IT to ensure the proper BYOD balance.

• Define policies that users can live with.
• BYOD is about freedom of choice.
• Make a clear separation between our work and personal lives on the device.
• Prefer BYOD options that don’t leave data on the device.
• Communicate and use common sense.

Define Policies That Users Can Live With

Heed the lessons of previous BYOD experiments. Your users will never agree to handing over their devices so you can disable screenshots. Unless you run a spy agency, you don’t need geotracking on your employees’ devices. You also don’t need access to any of their personal apps. Focus on what you absolutely need in order to secure enterprise data. If you don’t, your employees will not participate in your BYOD program.

BYOD is about freedom of choice

BYOD is a consumer lead revolution; IT definitely didn’t invent it. Keep in mind that BYOD is about freedom of choice. I am appalled when I see BYOD rules that dictate which device models employees can work on. When it comes to apps, offer a few choices for each type of app that your employees will be using. Add a few email, calendar and document editing apps to your Enterprise App Store.

A recent Gartner reports states that “your employees use many devices and they expect to use any device or application anytime, anywhere.” Internalize this.

Make a clear separation between our work and personal lives on the device

Almost every BYOD solution includes email, a calendar and a contacts. Make sure your employees know not to use their work apps for personal use. If and when they leave your company, those apps will be deleted from their device. Make it clear to your employees where IT has rights (on the work apps) and that they should never forward work emails to their personal email account. Good fences make good BYOD policy.

Prefer BYOD options that don’t leave data on the device

Choose apps that do not store data on the device. When app data is stored in the cloud, there is much less potential for data leaks. IT will need less policies and it will make the employee’s life easier. Your employees will be thrilled to know that work data doesn’t join them everywhere they go.

Communicate and use common sense

Communicate your BYOD policies to your employees – on paper and in person. Instead of sending a dry email full of technical terms that non-IT personnel will never understand, convene a BYOD workshop and give everyone a chance to ask questions.

Make it crystal clear what IT will do with the administrative rights they have on your users’ devices. Let them know that you will never use the “nuclear option” and wipe the entire device. It is important that they are aware that the worst case scenario is waking up and finding their work apps and data wiped. In the post-Snowden revelations era, mobile users want to know that you will never look at their private data nor will you perform backups. They now know what metadata is and you need to assuage their concerns.

Mistakes are bound to occur; don’t install a regime of fear. Isn’t it better when employees feel free to approach IT and say, “I think I made a mistake with our app. How do I fix it?” Let them know they can come down from the tree and they will share their experiences and mishaps with you.

 

Ron Munitz

In this post, I will list some of my experiences at the MWC. Don’t expect a reporter review, but do expect a WYSIWYG, or at least a “What I Saw Is What You Get” attitude. Note: No suits and ties on this one. Would probably get a D- for an academic essay. [I AGREE]

I wish I had more time to see everything, but those of you who were there know that there is a reason why it’s four days. Add to this speaking, meetings, and a developer conference and you get some math there. So…

I started my MWC journey on the stage, giving a talk about Android and the cloud from a different, OS vendor perspective. It always makes me happy to see Application developers interested in the lower level stuff, and time after time I find myself delighted to see that more and more people know the terms of Linux, know the terms of Android, and continuously eager to learn more. Open Source rules the world. What used to be the niche of those who could navigate in mailing lists, has evolved to be a larger niche, and that translates to real world products, which can be well observed (When did you last count the number of Active Linux, Android devices? Open source browsers?).

After my talk I took a walk at the MWC’s developers conference, the WipJam, and started seeing some interesting stuff (devices) at the very moment, once again in the OS vendor domains; I may even refer to them as Android modders colleagues. These were, of course, Amazon and Nokia, presenting their Non-Google Android: While Amazon’s Kindle devices have been here for a while, Nokia’s first attempt at an Android-ish like system had just been announced. The target customers, which will be supplemented with additional options later on this write-up, are emerging markets, looking for cheap, Android-ish devices. The Windows 8+ Lumia phones are for the higher-end characteristics. The user interface of the Nokia phone was a bit familiar, and so were the colors – I could see the Lumia in my non-professional, “only played with it in some conferences” eyes. While I didn’t play around with it too much, it did seem like a pretty good phone for its price. Not having Google Play in it is a major issue, and I am not sure what the Nokia strategy is, but an Android “compatible” piece of Hardware for less than 100 euros seems to be decent for me, and it could be a paradise for modders (aka ROM cookers). I admit that personally I am excited by the ever decreasing price of “fully featured” products – which may be the case for the Ubuntu phone and the FireFox OS phones: The former is just as it sounds: An Ubuntu phone. It runs the notorious Unity interface, and lacks my favorite Alt+F1 / Ctrl+Alt+t sequences – but it’s most probably due to not having a hardware keyboard hooked in. If you know recent years Ubuntu – that’s what you should be expecting. No more Half Ubuntu/Half Android phones.

As per the Firefox OS… Well, the prototype is not my cup of tea – but I have confidence of the team, I have confidence in the progress of their JavaScript engines and the published expected price… Well, you read the news.

Apple, as in always, retained its infamous tradition and did not set foot in Barcelona, but the fully fledged Android devices were kicking everywhere. From ZTE and Huawei, through Sony and Samsung, which had a very impressive zone, and of course announced the much expected Galaxy S5, but what I was more interested of is its Knox 2.0 platform products. There was a huge vibe around Knox, and I was surprised to see how many EMM vendors partner with Samsung on this critically important domain. I was deeply impressed by Samsung and Green-Hills Software cooperation, on making a DOD standard phone, given my long history with hard regulation at the Aerospace industry, both as a consultant and an engineer. Security, Security, Security. That is the guiding line. Everybody understands that. Security is not a game. Neither is Enterprise Mobility. And to further prove that, there was a huge Airwatch connect mini conference, gathering top EMM solution vendors. It’s enough to just see the number of companies doing it, from every possible side, to see that the business opportunities there are huge. Despite that, no company takes the Nubo approach of a remote mobile workspace. Another aspect of security, well represented in the WipJam and in Hall 1 of the MWC was secure payments, composite smart SIMCard, hardware and what not. 5G plans are on their way (see you in 2020), and the future looks promising.

Speaking of 2020: If you have really cool navigation ideas take a look at the EU Horizon 2020 program. It is a research program I am familiar with from my role as a member of Afeka’s College of Engineering Staff, which aims to open exciting R&D opportunities in the EU, and most excitingly there is a serious focus on application for Satellite navigation for the sake of GALILEO, which as a space industry veteran is extremely close to my heart. You can see more details in http://www.gsa.europa.eu/ (MATA/ISA guys, I’m talking to you, you know who you are).

There is a lot more to tell, but this is more or less the reflection of my busy Security oriented eyes, in these days.

Oh, one last thing: There were TONS of wearable devices in the conference. It is not even the future, it is the present. Internet Of Things, Wearable Devices, Smart-* , watches, bracelets, you name it. I am very active in the progressing of embedded Linux and Android and am extremely happy to see them affecting us everyday. Security at work, Android, Wearables at life. There will be more Wearable and Embedded Android news coming from me in the near future, but if you can’t wait for it, and you happen to be in San Francisco this week, you can meet me at the WearablesDevCon(http://www.wearablesdevcon.com/)

So, as for last words, I will detail my very informal summary of the conference:
The good things: Everything. Except for the bad things.
The bad things: I could do better playing Fifa at the Sony stand. Lesson learnt – for the next MWC. At least I have a picture with Messi, Rooney and Ronaldo…

Notes to the organizers of the great city of Barcelona: You did such a good job in the organization of the conference – you should really make sure there are attractive soccer games at the time of the conference! Como dice el dicho – Hay tiempo para trabajar, y hay tiempo para disfrutar del trabajo de otros.

Kenny Sahr