Ride the Lightning
Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
BYON – Bring Your Own Network: A Growing Security Threat
October 16, 2012
Hat tip to Dave Ries for sending along an article from Computerworld highlighting the dangers of a growing trend – the bring your own network movement. As Dave pointed out in his note to me, rogue wireless networks have been an identified risk for a long time, but this is the consumer version – and a new acronym is born.
BYON is a security hazard because it is now very easy for users to create their own mobile networks, usually through mobile wireless hotspots. The result? Internal networks may now be as insecure as users' mobile devices. Users are now running corporate apps and processing corporate and client data using networks that may or may not be secure.
BYON allows people to run applications in three different cloud-based environments at one time because they're on their own network, a network that they contracted with and the corporate network.
What to do? Companies are beginning to use policy to ban personal networks. Some are using technology to encrypt data and allowing only company-owned devices to connect to the network. Several large companies have asked cell towers to be moved to keep maverick employees from creating mobile hotspots.
Information security is the ultimate game of whack-a-mole. One whacked and three pop up.
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