Sharing Files with Mobile Devices: What to Know

The debate on whether an organization should allow employees to bring their own devices (BYOD) to work has both its champions and its naysayers. Regardless of which side your organization falls on letting employees use their personal phones or tablets, it is still vital to ensure that activities, including exchanging and collaborating on files, are done securely.

Benefits of a BYOD Position

There are compelling reasons organizations allow for BYOD, including:

• Cost savings. An employer doesn’t have to spend additional capital on purchasing or maintaining phones or tablets.
• Flexibility. With employees having more options to work from home, the cabin, or from a hotel room when traveling for work, a BYOD policy can help support the flexibility needed away from the home office.
• Familiarity with and accessibility: Access to personal devices is a plus for hybrid or remote workers.
• Faster ramp up: Instead of waiting for the corporate device to arrive or for IT to configure a device, newly hired employees can start work more quickly with their own phone or tablet in hand.
• Scalability: If an organization needs to quicky ramp up, hire contractors, etc., enabling secure BYOD policies can add agility.

This type of flexibility certainly appeals to employees. According to Verizon’s 2024 Mobile Security Index, 92% of organizations have employees who work from home at least some of the time. And 80% of respondents agree that the use of mobile devices is critical to the smooth running of their organizations, and 86% also noted that flexibility in where people work and what devices they use is a vital key to attracting top talent.

BYOD Risks to Organizations

There are, however, risks to bringing personal devices into the work environment, primarily related to the security of the information organizations are entrusted with. As mobile devices are often not protected by tools such as firewalls, encryption, or antivirus software, security risks include:  

• Data breaches: Many phones and tablets lack the high-level security needed to protect organizational data.
• Mobile malware: This type of malware specifically targets and can collapse operating systems on smartphones and tablets to steal valuable data assets.
• Loss or theft: A missing device could result in sensitive data falling into the wrong hands.

In addition, there is a general lack of control over how devices are used, updated against security threats, and even in how the devices are configured to best practices for passwords or authentication.

Another consideration is compliance. Regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and government need to meet stringent requirements around how files are managed and handled.

As organizations grow larger and more complex, the issue of whether personal devices remain compatible and supported by the IT team can get tricky, especially as some applications may not work across different platforms appropriately, making collaboration tricky.

And lastly, personal privacy can also be a factor that impacts the workplace. Broad corporate attempts to strictly monitor employees’ personal devices as employers strive to be both secure and flexible can be met with resistance.

Managed File Transfer (MFT) Supports BYOD Practices

Using a robust managed file transfer (MFT) solution, with the ability to secure, streamline and automate data transfers within your organization, and when exchanging data outside of it, is a proactive step in securing data entrusted to you.

Solutions, such as GoAnywhere MFT can be implemented on-premises, via the cloud, in hybrid fashion, and via mobile applications (for phones and tablets). This level of flexibility makes choosing secure, managed file transfer a no brainer for organizations wanting the most flexibility, security, and centralization of how their file transfer processes are handled.

The GoAnywhere Mobile app lets users of Apple and Android phones and tablets easily and securely send ad hoc file transfers. Built-in security in this user-friendly file sharing tool helps lessen the reliance on policy enforcement to control the security of data. Making the application easy to use also helps increase adoption rates.

The tools and functionalities of robust managed file transfer are available for the mobile user and additional features such as GoDrive, which records file history and can be used across devices, can be accessed with the app.

Mobile MFT Benefits

• The organization can control where data goes and can limit it to on-prem storage if they want to.
• File sharing movements are logged to help to meet compliance with SOX, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and state privacy laws.
• Administrators can control access and permissions via the GoAnywhere app or browser-based interface (including LDAP and AD authentication for Android and iOS devices).
• No special training or technical skills are needed to navigate the intuitive dashboard menus.
• File exchanges are protected with strong encryption protocols.
• A wide range of files times are supported, including XLS, PDF, PPT, DOC, RTF, RTFD, KEY, NUMBERS, and PAGES. 

Best Practices for BYOD:

• Establish a mobile device policy.  Organizations should commit to and regularly update the policy.
• Download apps only from legitimate sources.
• Train employees in preventing cybertheft.
• Encrypt your data. Using an approved mobile application for transferring files can make this process easier and automatic. Even if a bad actor intercepts the data, it will be rendered unreadable.
• Regularly update mobile software and applications to avoid potential vulnerabilities. 

Current GoAnywhere MFT customers can access the GoAnywhere mobile app with the HTTPS Server. The mobile application is also available on Apple and Google stores.