DTWNews

An increasing number of companies are granting employees permission to use their own mobile devices. But is this safe?

In the United States, up to 65 million people have smartphones. It is no surprise, then, that companies are encouraging and sometimes pressuring employees to bring their own mobile devices to the office.

What companies may not realize is this practice, commonly referred to as Bring Your Own Device (Byod) use, puts important company information at risk.

Companies face the very real threat that employee smartphones, especially personal iPhones and android phones, are just as susceptible to viruses, technical error, and malfunction.

Without strict measures enforcing iPhone security and iPhone management, personal mobile devices and the company data stored on them are subject to theft, which may be unpredictable or unavoidable.

Companies are not blind to iPhone security threats and the dangers of human error, however. More and more businesses are putting mobile device management systems into place, hoping to keep information as secure and private as possible. Tracking iPhone management and iPhone security through mobile device management allows companies to curb threats to confidential data.

Mobile device management is being heralded as a solution to prevent skyrocketing costs that are likely to arise when employees misplace or misuse smartphone devices.

Soon, forgoing mobile device management as an added security measure may not be a risk companies can afford to take. The use and popularity of smartphones is on the rise. Forbes.com predicts that the development of mobile applications will outnumber PC assignments by a margin of 4 to 1 as early as 2015.

Others argue the rising demand for mobile applications may not mandate the expansion and development required by mobile device management within companies. In 2001, the US government standardized the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm. First published in 1998, AES is designed to safeguard smartphone users by scrambling data stored on personal mobile devices. AES is highly esteemed, and many trust it to maintain iPhone security on its own.

AES provides a low cost alternative for new or smaller companies that may not have the means to keep mobile device management in place.

Still, companies need to ask themselves: Is lackadaisical iPhone security a risk they are willing to take? Is AES a viable alternative to mobile device management? Is mobile device management a necessity with the ever growing use of personal mobile devices in the work place?

Mobile device management is still in its early stages. With the increasing number of companies encouraging BYOD use, mobile device management and the need to carefully track iPhone security is not going to go away.