Worry-Free BYOD: How Portnox’s AgentP Balances Freedom & Security

It may sound cliche, but if there’s one point this decade has hammered home so far, it’s that the only constant is change. From the coronavirus pandemic to the Great Resignation, many of us are navigating new jobs and staffing changes, which means new BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies as work shifts from in the office to hybrid or even fully remote.   

Freedom vs. Security

BYOD is a huge challenge for both IT departments and users. There is a fine line between keeping the network safe and secure, but not making the policies so restrictive that users won’t want to use their personal devices at all. While most people prefer to keep working on their company laptop, everyone has a smart phone they often use for e-mail and Teams/Slack/G-Suite. Most people understand that security is important, but it’s not realistic to tell them they can’t back up family photos to the cloud or risk having their entire device remotely wiped.  

The beauty of remote work is the freedom it gives everyone to manage their day – a break between meetings may mean a load of laundry or a quick errand, secure in the knowledge that they can still be available if someone needs them. A BYOD policy that’s too strict removes this freedom altogether or worse, motivates users to try and find a way around it. 

Crushing Candy, Not My Personal Data

Another big concern is the level of access to browsing history and application data your company has, especially if users must install an application for network access. Someone who likes to listen to true crime podcasts may google something like “is Visine poisonous?” and not want to worry about having their desk dusted for fingerprints the next day.  Someone on level 9,949 of Candy Crush might not want to risk losing their app data. You get the point.  

Freedom to Roam & Install (Almost) Anything

Enter the beauty of Portnox NAC-as-a-Service with AgentP – the perfect solution to keep personal data safe and networks secure. AgentP allows for configuring important security policies like “phones that are not password protected don’t get to access the accounting servers” and “devices located in Russia don’t get to join the network at all.” If you’re running Android and you download apps wildly across the internet, you probably won’t be allowed on the corporate network either. And while they see location data via country, city, and zip code, no one is micro-managing your trip to Target to buy cat food before your furry friends stage a revolution (although sneaking off to Hawaii might be a problem.)   

In fact, although your access can be blocked based on what applications you’ve downloaded, whether your phone is jail broken/rootkitted, where your phone is physically located, and/or what version of the OS you’re running, there is no way to force updates or application removals – you still retain total control and ownership of your device and everything on it. 

Striking the Right Balance

Creating a balance between security and usability will always be challenging, but Portnox NAC-as-a-Service with AgentP is an excellent way to keep both the network and those family photos safe – a true win-win for everyone. And now on to level 9,950 of Candy Crush!