BYOD security risks on the rise.

• Position: DATA SECURITY - Bring your own device

The jury is still out on whether bring your own device (BYOD) is a blessing or a curse for organizations today.

A survey of 600 IT and business leaders sponsored by Cisco earlier this year found that 95% of the organizations allow employees to use their own personal devices on the corporate network. One of the biggest challenges to organizations is supporting those devices. Thirty-six percent of the organizations surveyed support all BYOD devices, and 48% support some devices. The remaining 11% don't offer IT support for personal devices.

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Many organizations feel that BYOD is a positive because employees are happier and tend to be more productive when working with their own devices. Ensuring they remain productive is the reason so many IT organizations are supporting personal devices.

Another large challenge for organizations with a BYOD policy is dealing with the associated security risks. According to the Cisco survey results, 69% of BYOD users were using unapproved applications on their devices, which is difficult to detect. The recent staggering increase in Android malware magnifies this problem.

Trend Micro's TrendLabs reported 5,000 new malicious Android apps were found in the first quarter of 2012; that doubled to 10,000 new apps detected in just one month during the second quarter. The most common type of malicious application is disguised as a highly popular legitimate app. For...