Passwords are one of the simplest ways to protect devices
"The BYOD (bring your own device) phenomenon has taken the world by storm."
Those are the words of Koby Amedume, EMEA marketing director at Kaseya, as he referred to the growing number of businesses allowing their employees to use their personal gadgets in the workplace.
But while BYOD is an emerging trend with various cost saving benefits, there are also a number of security concerns associated with such policies given that IT records management becomes more difficult to coordinate when staff are using their own tablets and smartphones.
So in order for companies to properly protect themselves when they implement a BYOD policy, much emphasis has been placed on the need to find effective measures that allow firms to enjoy the benefits of the practice without running the risk of having their sensitive data exposed.
And according to Andy Thomas, managing director of Garlik, one of the simplest and most effective ways to defend against criminal activity is with password protection – a tool that a surprising proportion of seem to overlook.
"Our research showed that four in ten people are not password protecting the devices that they have and it just makes it really easy for people when they steal them to get the information off of them," he said.
"The most important thing that people should do is put a password on [their device]."
Whether it’s to prevent thieves from gaining access to an email account or secure more sensitive records such as confidential files relating to the business, it appears that a password is the first line of defence that employees using their own devices have to implement.
What’s more, with many laptops providing the option to encrypt documents and give certain folders added protection, it’s important to remember that there are a wide variety of measures that can be taken to boost a workforce’s IT security.