The National Association of State CIOs is encouraging state IT shops to allow employees to use personal smartphones for work. A recent research report from the association surveyed 36 states about their smartphone policies and security measures. Currently, 14 states allow employees to use personal smartphones, 10 states ban their use and six states said the rule varies from agency to agency. Article
Smart mobile devices are clearly on their way to pervasiveness in federal agencies. The notion that the government can adopt consumer technology on its own terms - that individual employees can even bring their own devices - is gaining once unthinkable currency. But as mobile devices turn from dream into reality, questions of management and policy arise. Strong cybersecurity obviously is a necessity - but how much security such as logon timeouts can users accept before they start attempting to circumvent it? Will system managers be able to track the location of devices 24 hours a day - and so also know where the employee using them also is? If devices are BYOD, how can agencies be certain that matters such as loss and theft are reported quickly enough, especially if the standard policy response is to remotely wipe a missing device? Watch now.
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