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Bring your own device
A new concept for some organizations is to allow nurses to bring in their own devices
known as bring your own devices (BYOD) to use at work. What are some of the security issues
you might encounter if this were allowed? How would you address these issues? How is this
issue addressed in your practice setting?
With the increased use of mobile phones, laptops, and tablets the trend of Bring your
Own Device (BYOD) has rapidly grown in the healthcare industry where employees can
complete their work anytime and anywhere. Despite helping organizations manage their costs
and giving employees the flexibility to carry out certain duties outside their work, BYOD
devices can cause a security threat. Healthcare institutions have little control over these BYOD
devices where healthcare professionals are accessing secured patient data that can be breached
by hackers (El-Bakkouri & Mazri, 2020). Certain security standards are required to be able to
use these devices and include confidentiality, authorization to access patient data, integrity as
well as availability where the users access only the data and information they need (El-Bakkouri
& Mazri, 2020). The most common security issues of BYOD devices are outdated versions of
personal devices that enable better security management, devices lacking authentication and
locking passwords to protect sensitive data, as well as app security related to downloading
unsafe and infected apps (Wani et al., 2020). If BYOD is allowed these security-related issues
should be addressed before allowing employees to use their own devices. To safeguard patient
data all BYOD devices must be enrolled within the enterprise where settings updates can be
remotely installed. Each device should be protected by an access password that must be changed
at certain intervals to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to secure data.
Bring your own device
A new concept for some organizations is to allow nurses to bring in their own devices
known as bring your own devices (BYOD) to use at work. What are some of the security issues
you might encounter if this were allowed? How would you address these issues? How is this
issue addressed in your practice setting?
With the increased use of mobile phones, laptops, and tablets the trend of Bring your
Own Device (BYOD) has rapidly grown in the healthcare industry where employees can
complete their work anytime and anywhere. Despite helping organizations manage their costs
and giving employees the flexibility to carry out certain duties outside their work, BYOD
devices can cause a security threat. Healthcare institutions have little control over these BYOD
devices where healthcare professionals are accessing secured patient data that can be breached
by hackers (El-Bakkouri & Mazri, 2020). Certain security standards are required to be able to
use these devices and include confidentiality, authorization to access patient data, integrity as
well as availability where the users access only the data and information they need (El-Bakkouri
& Mazri, 2020). The most common security issues of BYOD devices are outdated versions of
personal devices that enable better security management, devices lacking authentication and
locking passwords to protect sensitive data, as well as app security related to downloading
unsafe and infected apps (Wani et al., 2020). If BYOD is allowed these security-related issues
should be addressed before allowing employees to use their own devices. To safeguard patient
data all BYOD devices must be enrolled within the enterprise where settings updates can be
remotely installed. Each device should be protected by an access password that must be changed
at certain intervals to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to secure data.
