Using Personal Network Devices at Work

An interesting article in the Wall Street Journal raises many questions about allowing/encouraging employees to use their own personal devices to perform necessary work functions, including security questions about lost phones/laptops, wiping devices if reported stolen (including wiping the employee’s personal information, too), and cost questions for devices used for both personal and work reasons.  While Blackberry devices connecting to Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) can be secured, many employees will prefer to use their own smart phone, which is less controllable. Also interesting are the article comments and personal anecdotes within.

The general feeling from the comments is that using personal devices on a corporate network exposes both the company and the worker to risk.  Additionally, some commenters felt use of a personal device opens the way for abuse of the ability to contact workers on “their time,” extending the work day to night, weekend or vacation hours.  You can read the full article here, but don’t forget to come back and post your thoughts about this contested issue.

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