Half of U.S. firms lack formal BYOD policy.

• Position: MOBILE DEVICES - Bring-your-own-device - Brief article

A survey of 447 U.S. businesses of all sizes conducted in mid-2015 by systems integrator Champion Solutions Group found that 53% haven't implemented a formal bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy to protect their data, while more than one-fourth admitted to having no systematic security approach, according to Computerworld.

The findings reported in "Mobile Device Security Practices" are "ridiculous ... surprising," said Champion CEO Chris Pyle in an interview with Computerworld. Experts and security firms have suggested mobile security best practices for more than a decade.

Companies understand the advantages of allowing workers to use their personal smartphones and tablets while at work, including increased productivity because workers use applications and services they personalize to become more efficient. But, Pyle said, there must be a framework for protecting them.

In addition to the lack of formal BYOD policies, the survey found that only 21% of businesses use multifactor authentication (MFA) to verify a user's identity when granting access to critical...