Bring Your Own Device Fundamentals

The concept of BYOD brings with it the constant challenge for network and security administrators, engineers, and management. This challenge is to provide seamless connectivity for users bringing their own network-connected devices while also maintaining an appropriate security posture. The organization must provide a level of security that meets the organization’s security policies and ensures that network devices, systems, and data do not get compromised through the proliferation of vulnerable devices starting with the devices brought in by employees from “the outside.”

It is no longer a “nice to have” to enable an organization’s users to use their own devices both on the corporate network and remotely—home, hotels, coffee shops, and so on—through the use of encrypted virtual private networks (VPN). Employees not only demand but, in today’s business landscape, legitimately need to be able to use their devices to connect to and from any network-enabled location in the world.

Following are a number of business reasons that are driving the need for BYOD solutions:

Wide variety of consumer devices: It seems like every day there is a new vendor, a new device, or a new version of an existing device that requires connectivity to the Internet. And that’s just what I see in my own house! It used to be simple when we had PCs that remained “fixed” to our desks at work, each one with a direct connection, via an Ethernet cable, to the corporate network. Now we have laptops, smartphones, and tablets, all of which not only require connectivity to the network but which also get carried throughout the office and to and from home, all while having connectivity to the Internet in some fashion.

Blurred lines between work and play: The term 9 to 5 used to signify the rigid start and end times of our (well, for those of us old enough to be working back then) traditional 8-hour work day. Obviously, times have changed and, not only have the start and end times changed, but we don’t even necessarily have a defined work “day.” We work on our commute to work, we work during lunch, we work on our commute home, we work at nights, and we work while watching our kids play baseball, softball, basketball, and ice hockey on the weekends! Heck, some of us even work while on vacation—now that sounds like an oxymoron.

Connect me anytime, anywhere: End users expect to be able to connect their devices whenever and wherever they may be regardless of whether they are “on the clock.” These needs are satisfied by the continuing growth of wireless networks, 3G/4G mobile networks, and publicly available wireless networks at coffee shops, hotels, and so on.