Security Problem and Solution of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)


BYOD or Bring your Own device refers to the policy of permitting employees to bring personally owned mobile devices (laptops, tablets, and smart phones) to their workplace, and to use those devices to access privileged company information and applications. The phenomenon is commonly referred to as IT consumerization. The term is also used to describe the same practice applied to students using personally owned devices in education settings.

The term BYOD was introduced in 2009 by Intel when they noticed the tendency of using own mobile devices among the employees in their corporate work.

Importance of BYOD

Due to the rapid increase of mobile devices it is assumed that within next five years the total number of devices will be around 10 billion that means 1.5 devices per head. As the personal mobile devices are integrated part of our lives, employees want to use their own devices in personal as well as corporate purpose also.

In the current economic model, when a company wants their employees to be more productive, BYOD is a useful and attractive option and will increase the productivity on a large scale if it safely used.

Survey Reports on BYOD

There are lots of surveys have been done by all the big IT companies as BYOD is playing a very important role in the market.

· 75% of employees in high-growth markets such as Brazil and Russia and 44% in developed markets already using their own technology at work.
· 95% of employees stating they use at least one personal device for work.
· 44% of job seekers view an organization more positively if it supports their device.
· IBM says that 82% of employees think that smartphones play a critical role in business.

Security Problem With BYOD

1. Security of data: As the employees carry the important data with them in a flash drive or laptop outside the company. So if the employees are not trustable, it is possible that they will supply the details to other company. Now this is not a technical issue. So it cannot be solved in that way.

2. Lost and stolen devices: Millions of cell phones and smartphones are lost or stolen every year. It is thought that approximately 22% of the total number of mobile devices produced will be lost or stolen during their lifetime, and over 50% of these will never be recovered. Most devices are stolen for the value of the hardware on the second-hand market; however, a growing amount of lost and stolen phones have their content accessed by someone other than their owners. This highlights the importance of basic security features such as password protection, encryption and robust procedures to wipe the device once lost.

3. Unknown Mobile App download: Almost every app takes some permission from the owner to access some features or hardware to run properly. But it is seen that there are millions of apps from unknown or un-trustable develops who misuse the permissions and information taken from mobile or tablet. It is observed that sometimes a simple torch application takes permission to read contacts or SD card etc. These apps are simply fishy. If the personal mobile phones which are used in offices contains these types of applications, it may cause a huge data loss.

4. Malware download: Almost every organization uses legal licensed operating system, software in PC or Laptop. But maximum users depend on the free software or the cracked or pirated version of the software in their personal devices. This kind of pirated softwares are generally developed by hackers to gain the access of our computer. Not only that, these customized softwares are undetectable by antivirus, it also damage and destroy the operating systems. The risk becomes high as they also use pirated antivirus which cannot update its own database.

5. Other network connection: The devices of companies are only can be used in the office network which is generally protected by good and original software and hardware firewall and the network is also monitored by some network security experts continuously but in the case of BYOD all the devices are used in public places and home. These networks are not at all secure and hackers can hack the laptops or mobile easily when they connect to these networks.

6. Enabling Security features of OS: The most popular OS on the planet are Windows, Linux and MAC. Three of them have lots of inbuilt security features which we have to manually activate. The firewall also can be customized to get maximum protection. In any office, these tasks are performed by experts in every computer. But most of the employees don’t know the activation process and they use the default settings which activates only 25% of the overall security provided by the OS Company.

7. Less use of encryption: Employees generally do not use encryption to protect their data. As a result, if devices are lost or somehow hackers manage to gain the access of PC or mobile they can easily read and use the data. But if they use proper encryption, they can protect the secret information of their organization.

Secure Your Device

There are lots of steps that can be taken to protect all these devices.

1. Cyber Security Education: The main and most important step is spreading cyber security education among the employees and awareness about securities. Most of the people are careless about security and they don’t know the basic things about security and what they should do and they should not. That is why they sometimes click on some malicious link sent by unknown people or download from unsecure websites.

2. Using Licensed software: Using licensed software is an important step to BYOD security. As most of free software are developed by bad people it is a better practice to use original OS and software.

3. Using security software: Employees can use SANDBOX to run fishy software to protect a system from malware. They should also use the original updated version of good antivirus to get the basic security.

4. Using VPN: Using virtual private network is a very good step to communicate through a secure channel.

5. Customize firewall and Other Security: Employees should contact security experts to enable maximum security and activate all features of firewall.

6. Avoiding public Internet connection: It is better to avoid public open wifi and insecure network to access internet for the safety of data of the organization.

7. Using Encryption: Employees should use proper encryption before storing their data and sending through the internet so that man-in-middle attack cannot occur.

8. Mobile phone safety: It is recommended not to download any unknown app into mobile and use some safety app to detect the fishy and insecure application.


By leveraging industry leading practices, integrating a thoughtful BYOD policy and adopting strategies that are flexible and scalable, organizations will be better equipped to deal with incoming (sometimes unforeseen) challenges to their security infrastructure posed by the use of employees’ own devices. The introduction of appropriate procedures and regular testing will help organizations become smarter and make their employees more aware of the challenges that the use of personal devices pose for the entire enterprise.

The last thing is that an organization’s first and last defense against security breach is its own employees. Training employees on good security practices offer the most bang for the buck. It is the best and beautiful way to increase productivity using BYOD.

How Software Training Institutes Help to Improve the Coding Skills of Students

Software codes are not physical products. We cannot see the codes, but the user can use the results of a running a coded program in the form of a software application. The software applications so developed have redefined our everyday experiences and made life so easy, be it controlling a flight or buying groceries from a supermarket. Learning computer programming is thus an excellent avenue to gain employment and improve a person’s career profile.

The first generation of codes are called machine language. The second generation of codes are called assembly language and the third generation of codes is called high level language or HLL. All software programming languages need to be translated into machine codes for a computer to understand the instructions. While most of it happens internally, it is important that software engineers correctly ‘write’ programs that deliver the desired output.

Coding practice can be improved either by attempting to write a number of new programs suited to specific applications or even by modifying the existing codes. But what exactly is the purpose for which a program needs to be written? How do we define the software life cycle? What are the best languages to use to derive a certain output? How can people without any basic programming know-how get into coding and the software industry? This is where the role of software institutes occur.

Several software training institutes have mushroomed all over the world to address these issues. Often, they help in making people employment ready, give career guidance and training in a broad spectrum of software and programming languages including JAVA, SAP, CAD,.Net etc. Some also recommend software testing courses based on the candidate’s profile. With experienced faculty and tie ups with key companies, they deliver real value to a student and help in placements after course completion.

These institutes conduct long and short-term courses. They also prepare students for various international certifications. Further, they conduct workshops, events and other activities to encourage student-industry interaction, prepare novices for their job interviews and make them ready to face opportunities. Job fairs, campus interviews, etc. are also conducted regularly for students to get job placements on successful course completion. Many governments have also come forward to set up training institutes to train homeless people, women, unemployed and under employed persons. In order to encourage children to pick up coding skills, many software training institutes have also made available a number of courses for school students and kids in summer vacations.

While the remarkable results are here to see, the software training industry is rather unregulated. Many institutes seem to promise the moon and charge hefty sums, while the real certification is either invalid or based really on the reputation of a known parent brand. Going forward, it will be interesting to see how various governments tackle the issue and ensure that the benefits of software training reach all sections of society.

I Want to Work at Home on My Computer

Yesterday I typed in these words “I want to work at home on my computer” and was amazed to find 375,000,000 had typed in that phrase! I wondered were they mostly would-be stay at home Mum’s, retirees wanting to subsidise their pensions, post graduates who couldn’t find jobs, students eking out meagre funds, or business men tired of the rat-race. Certainly there are a lot of people looking to change their lifestyle.

My revelation was after talking to my son in Australia who has been living there happily with his wife and family for several decades. He loves it there and is unlikely to return to England except for a brief holiday. He has a great job and is doing extremely well, and has what seems to me to be a great lifestyle. A large house he has built with all the trappings, a car and boat a camper-van, and great family, but he is feeling burnt out and looking for a change in career. This is what started the conversation.

There are so many choices when considering working at home on your computer, and with the younger generations in particular, so used to technology it seems to be an automatic choice for many looking for an alternative to commuting.

I favour affiliate marketing for its simplicity and also the possibilities for expansion at a later date. It is possible to expand your fledgling business to whatever size you require, according to the time and effort you are prepared to commit, once you understand the principles and have it running smoothly.

The best time to start a project like this is when you are still in paid employment, so that you have plenty of time to plan, not when you explode with frustration and walk out of your job, or when you are made redundant. Aim to start small in your spare-time, until your hobby business surpasses your current earnings and consider how you would enjoy working alone. Give yourself time to see whether it’s the way forward for you before you say goodbye to your boss!

Would this lifestyle suit you? Do you have enough drive and determination to work alone, some people love the freedom and relish the peace and quiet, whilst others crave company. What is your mindset?

Do you need to build your confidence and believe in your-self before you commit to starting a new venture – You might like to read some confidence building books first:

“Awaken the Giant Within” by Anthony Robbins should make you feel you are confident enough to do anything. A hefty volume but well worth reading!

Another I can recommend “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” by Joseph Murphy, my copy is now battered and yellowed but still readable, it is still in print.

If you are worried about all the techniques you will need to learn there are many books available and courses on-line, some are free, plus training videos on YouTube.

If you are concerned about learning traffic techniques, here are some books I have found helpful: “99 ways to flood your website with traffic” by Mick Macro. Some tips will suit you initially others you may want to use later.

Facebook is also an excellent way to harness traffic both paid and free traffic. There are many books on using social Media.

If you want to learn the basics of SEO take a look at SEO Step-by-Step, the author will even answer questions if you email him, a great little book showing simple things you can do to improve your rankings.

Well it is inexpensive to start a hobby business with affiliate marketing and fit it into your spare-time; see how you enjoy learning the new skills necessary, the excitement of a new challenge and if it is to be your new lifestyle. Most of us would enjoy some extra cash meanwhile. So wishing you success in the future whatever your decision.