Bring your own device would not work in MoD, says defence chief

Security measures would negate benefits of consumerisation

Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) schemes may work in enterprises but the risks are too great in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), a senior figure at the MoD said today.

At a BT roundtable entitled Rethink the risk, the deputy head of service operations for the MoD, captain Simon Wise, said BYOD schemes wouldn't offer the MoD the same benefits it offers some other organisations because of the security measures that it would have to put in place on the devices.

"The more security that is put in place the less beneficial it is to the user. For example, it may mean that less bandwidth is given to that device," he said.

"The MoD does not have a BYOD policy. We are in danger of policy following the technology and I can't see that happening in the MoD," he added.

Wise said that the consumerisation of IT is dependent on the type of organisation and the type of data that is being transferred.

"The organisation has to ask itself, what is the information that it is trying to protect? What is it worth? The MoD, for example, makes a considerable investment in protecting its data," he said.

Wise argued that like MoD staff, who need to complete mandatory courses on IT security, staff in all other organisations should be educated on security risks, and all employees should understand the rules that are in place.

"It is incumbent on everyone in the organisation from the project manager to the IT architect to understand the security risks and policies that are in place.

"For example, there should be tests to see if all employees would do the right or wrong thing if a malicious email got through the system. Staff have to be vigilant as not all of the security measures will be right all of the time," he concluded.