BYOD Security in Internet of Things

Running head: BYOD SECURITY IN INTERNET OF THINGS
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BYOD SECURITY IN INTERNET OF THINGS
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BYOD Security in the Internet of Things
Abstract
In the past years, technology has been evolving at a very first rate and this comes with so
many advantages as well as disadvantages. This high rate of change caused by technology has
presented so many security challenges in the information sector recently. Recent technology
trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) are having a
large impact on how business is operated in so many countries all over the world. As much as the
adoption of BYOD and IoT simplifies the operations of business and other organization, these
trends come with other security complications that put the organizations at risk is called Bring
Your Own Devices (BYOD) is the policy of permitting employees to work with their own
personal mobile devices within an organization and even in the external environment. This
research on the BYOD security on the internet of things is very important as it will outline the
potential risks and challenges that organizations are exposed to by this technology trend. The
research will outline important recommendations on how to deal with these challenges so as to
alleviate the situation. The business sector is the major sector that can benefit from this research
and enable more effective and efficient operations without facing the risks that accompany this
technology. The research will also serve as a reference for further research on the topic in future
as this technology is growing continuously and it requires continuous monitoring.
Key Words
BYOD, IoT, distributed denial of services, data leakage, malware

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Introduction
Since the birth of computing in the I960S, it has undergone several notable transitions to
the current modern computing. Even the types of computers have moved from mainframe
computers to minicomputers and now they have evolved into the personal computers (PC) which
are server-driven in nature. The information technology (IT) was ushered into the internet
computing by the personal computers. Due to the proliferation of cloud-based mobile devices
and applications, the internet computing has been superseded by mobile computing. BYOD
roughly began around 2003 but it took some time for it to become common and its popularity
rose significantly in 2013 (Leavitt, 2013). There is growing pressure from the populace in many
countries for business to allow their staff to bring their personal gadgets such as smartphones and
tablets to the workplace and this puts business with no option but to ensure they put the BYOD
policy in space (Millard, 2013). BYOD is a policy in information technology sector and this
policy allows employees to access sensitive corporate data at work using their personal
computing devices (Li, Peng, Huang, & Zou, 2013). Mobile devices including tablets and
smartphones conglomerate voice and data services and portability to open up an extensive range
of possible mobile applications, "anytime and anywhere" (Disterer & Kleiner, 2013). The BYOD
policy and program give the employee the choice to choose the device to use in performing their
tasks with personal devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones included (Citrix®, 2013).
The policy does not only allow employees to use personal gadgets to attain data within the work
environment but also even when they are not at work.
BYOD is not just an issue in our country but it is a global phenomenon according to a
2012 survey done by Cisco (Cisco, 2012). A survey research was done by Cisco across 8

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countries in 3 different regions in the world namely Europe, Asia and Latin America. The survey
involved enterprises which have an employee range of above 1000 and midsize companies with
an employee range of 500-999. Earlier, a similar survey had been conducted in the United States
of America and involved 18 industries and 600 IT leaders. Therefore this research was an
extension of the United States research. According to Ovum’s survey (2012) that was done in
seventeen nations among the developed economies and emerging economies in the world, 75%
of employees in with emerging economies use their personal devices at work while in developed
countries 44% of employees use their individual devices at work. The developed economies of
nations in the survey included United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Italy and Sweden while
those with emerging economies included Russia, India, Brazil, Singapore and Malaysia. It is
predicted that by the end of 2018 most of the employees, roughly 70%, will be using personal
smart computing devices to conduct their work (Gartner, 2014). Therefore according to these
surveys and reports, we realize that the prevalence of BYOD is increasing rapidly in both
emerging and developed countries.
Researchers’ Contributions on BYOD Security in IoT
Most of research and studies and research on BYOD began around 2011 although the BYOD
started to emerge in 2013 (Björn, 2012). There several white papers published by now that
describe the BYOD situation and the security concerns and some of them have gone further to
suggest recommended non-technical solutions the risks presented by BYOD. These suggested
non-technical solutions include the policy to regulate the prevalence BYOD. A white paper
presented by EY (2013) identifies the BYOD risk landscapes and categorizes it into 3 groups
namely addressing application risks, mobile devices, and management of the mobile
environment. This white paper presented policy-based (non-technical) resolutions to the risks