Bring your own device (BYOD) is a system whereby employees are allowed to bring their own devices including laptops, tablets and smartphone for use in the office in addition to or to replace the existing office devices. Allowing employees to carry their own devices to work is advantageous to some extent but also with it various security risks arise.
Martinez and Kourtney (2014) assert that this practice increases the probability of an organization’s data leakage. This is because personal devices like tablets and smartphones have poor security systems and therefore susceptible to attacks. In a hospital setting, confidential patient files may be accessed by unauthorized persons which is a significant breach of medical ethics. To address this problem, the organization has to undertake routine evaluation of these devices to check for any vulnerabilities and take necessary precautions.
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With the use of personal devices, one is likely to mix professional and personal data. This is a common problem that is encountered by almost everyone using his smartphone for personal and business purposes. Information belonging to the organization therefore are likely to be exposed to other people in the process. In the nursing sector, there can be a confusion of patient files and data. To counter this, the organization may lay out a policy where these sensitive information are password protected in order to help distinguish the two.
Personal devices are prone to misplacement and damage. Employees’ devices may get lost or get stolen. Some employees do not take care of their devices by ensuring that their software is up to date. An effective way to solve this problem is by encouraging employees to make use of security utilities like pin and introduce a system where the management can do a remote wipe in the event that a device is lost.
Reference
Martinez, K., Courtney, K. L., University of Victoria (B.C.), & University of Victoria (B.C.). (2014). Bring Your Own Device and Nurse Executives Decision Making: A Qualitative Description .
