As some businesses are reopening while COVID-19 plateaus, many employees are splitting time between working from home and working in the office. Those same employees are often using their own devices (phones, tablets, laptops etc.) in both places. The use of personal devices in a work setting can increase risk of a data breach. The Columbus Bar Association has published the following article by Dinsmore attorney Gregory Tapocsi, which outlines the top five policies companies should consider to avoid the pitfalls of personal-device use in the workplace.

• Register approved devices. The benefits of BYOD are lost if you do not know what devices are accessing your firm’s network and who owns those devices. Your BYOD policy should delineate a clear procedure to register devices and you should keep a list of all approved devices that contains information such as the device’s owner and IP protocol.
• Acceptable use. Your firm must clearly define what it considers acceptable use, which could include blocking access to certain websites or apps while connected to the firm’s network. Another item to evaluate is whether camera features on employee devices must be turned off while on the firm’s premises.
• Offline communications. Employees may be drawn to connect with each other via text messaging or private social media messaging instead of secure email platforms. Your BYOD policy should prohibit communication regarding confidential information via unsecured methods and you should remind your employees to use their best judgment when talking about work matters.

Read the complete article on the Columbus Bar Association website.