Tech Time: BYOD poses security threats

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, more than 169 million personal records were exposed as the result of 781 publicized security breaches across the financial, business, education, government and healthcare sectors in 2015. As shocking as these numbers are, they may not fully convey the scope of the threat: Any company or consumer that connects to the Internet is at risk of becoming a victim of a cybersecurity attack.

The challenge of protecting networks from these attacks has been exacerbated by the bring-your-own-device phenomenon, which opens the door to new vulnerabilities for many credit unions on a daily basis. More and more, business is taking place over personal devices as employees work from home or while traveling. For some staff members, relying on their own laptops, tablets and smart phones is simply a matter of personal preference.

The problem is that personal devices provide an easy entry point for attackers to gain access to valuable information. Credit unions struggle to develop device usage policies and protocol and, often with even more difficulty, to implement and monitor regulations around personal devices.

Managing BYOD has added extra stress to already maxed-out IT departments, which must take care not to infringe on personal privacy at the same time they work to protect credit union networks as more personal devices are connected.

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