Civic News

‘Bring Your Own Device’ policies may expose government workers to increased cybersecurity risks

From 2006 to 2011, the “number of security breaches involving sensitive government data increased nearly eightfold,” reports the Baltimore Sun, something of an issue as more government workers telecommute and use their own laptops and mobile devices to complete projects and send e-mails. The Sun reports: Just more than half of federal employees who use a smartphone for work […]

Cryptonite makes devices invisible to attackers. (Photo by Flickr user West Point - The U.S. Military Academy, used under a Creative Commons license)

From 2006 to 2011, the “number of security breaches involving sensitive government data increased nearly eightfold,” reports the Baltimore Sun, something of an issue as more government workers telecommute and use their own laptops and mobile devices to complete projects and send e-mails.

The Sun reports:

Just more than half of federal employees who use a smartphone for work are using their own devices, according to a recent survey by an advocacy group called Mobile Work Exchange. But a third of those employees don’t protect their devices with passwords. And more than 60 percent said their agency doesn’t have a security policy in place.
The government does not track personal device usage. [more]

Read the full article at the Baltimore Sun.

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