Data Backup Digest

It’s never good to mix your home and work life for a variety of reasons, but an increasing number of people do so due to the portable nature of technology. Whereas in the past work might have remained static on paper or large computers in the workplace, files can now be remotely accessed with eased or transported to other devices at the click of a button.

However, this brings with it various risks. Although it can be beneficial for productivity, it risks upsetting the backup plan. If business files are created, edited or in any way modified on a personal device then these changes aren’t automatically going to be synced to the corporate backup. Although you might have your own backup plan in place, it isn’t necessarily going to be as efficient or secure as the one the business has in place.

Similarly, businesses would be wise to discourage their employees from using corporate devices to carry out personal activities. Research was published by GFI Software that shows how 40 percent of businesses surveyed had a major IT outage due to their employees browsing “questionable or non-work related” sites on company tech.

75 percent of respondents admitted that they regularly use business devices for their personal activities. While 90 percent said that they have a solid understanding of the data security policies that their employer puts in place, a shocking 8.5 percent of these people said that they just disregard this. Considering the severity that a data breach can have, this is worrying news and is something business should look to address.

While it’s perhaps unfair to totally ban personal use from company devices (which would bring up questions on how to efficiently moderate this), it’s important to keep a division between work and personal activates when using corporate devices.

“There are clear arguments in favour of letting staff use company computers for a degree of personal activity. However, people still need to remember that at the end of the day it is not their device, and neither is the company data on it,” says Sergio Galindo, general manager of GFI Software.

The reason that personal use of enterprise devices is to be discouraged is due to the data that is stored on these devices. When operating within a business it is likely that the IT infrastructure will be set up in a way to protect its users. Not only does this mean from attackers getting into the systems, but it also means data leaving and heading to places that it shouldn’t.

Leaving this infrastructure and operating a device in a personal manner can open the data up to risks that the business can’t properly secure. This leaves the data vulnerable, which can lead to all sorts of complications – not just loss of data, but it can also ultimately impact the bottom line.

As such, it’s very important that employees are educated on proper IT use. It is vital that all members of staff use corporate devices responsibly and that they follow the company’s data and security policies.