By Jessica Caroll – a writer who works with Mobistealth
Warning: this article contains advice which may be illegal outside the USA
BYOD [Bring Your Own Device] is no longer a controversial issue. With people becoming more and more inclined towards technology outside office, it is inevitable that the tech-savvy are going to use and abuse it in the office premises. In such a situation, employers often need to rely on a mobile phone tracker. There is no ‘official’ definition of BYOD as there is little US case law referring to it. Sifting through legal terms, however, ‘legally-defensible security’ and ‘reasonable security’ support these phenomena of employee monitoring. It makes employers entitled to take steps to protect the company’s systems and networks.
It is understandable that all devices given to the employees are being monitored be it by the networks or mobile phones.
If employees feel uncomfortable regarding this setting, they are free to bring their own mobile phone to work.
When the employee is aware that his or her work and usage of technology is being monitored, he/she will automatically be inclined towards the playing-it-safe zone.
With BYOD, employers now have an almost dictatorial authority on company-owned mobile phones.
They are free to: -
Install any security software on the mobile phoneEncrypt company data on the mobile phoneMonitor the mobile phone and keep a look-out for any kind of misuseKeep a check on how the mobile phone connects to the company’s networksThat might not be as easy as typing all these pointers is. Executives will not exactly like their smartphones being monitored, regardless of being company-owned or personal, let alone getting them to agree to the pointers above.
Let’s look at an example showing how BYOD can have serious implications.
Frank’s [a fictitious person] company had been sued by the competitor for stealing trade secrets. His smartphone was allegedly being used in the crime.
He had been sent by his company to a trade show where he sees a product in the competitor’s booth which is in line with the something his company is trying to get a patent for.
Moving over to the next stall, he takes a picture of something that interests him. Someone in the competitor’s booth assumes that he has taken a picture of the product in that booth.
And here BYOD jumps-in, all dressed up in the legal attire.
If Frank’s’ smartphone is being monitored fully, the company would have doubtlessly know about what activities have been carried out on the smartphone.
Frank will be defended by the company as innocent. This situation might also have its own implications.
As Frank is using his personal smartphone, his device might not be fully monitored by the company. A way out for him is being proven innocent by turning over the hard drive for all the captured data.
There is conditional relationship between employers and employees. There is BYOD to fill in the gaps of this relationship.
BYOD has its own set of uses and implications, though it is being widely used, nowadays.
Author Biog
Jessica Carolhas been writing about all the new developments happening in the tech world for a very long time. She constantly updates his readers about latest trends, tips and tricks of spyware and more. She tweets @Jcarol429.
The video below is a promo for the Mobistealth mobile phone tracking (spyware) app
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