The Rise of BYOI?

Antar Bolaeisk · 15 Jun 2013 at 19:55

This was a new one to me, had someone complain that they couldn't get access to a shared drive and, upon investigation, the issue was that they were on an entirely different network. The user, not happy with the restrictions enforced by the firewall, decided to bring their own 3G router into work and use that instead.

Obviously the whole BYOD movement has been a bit of a headache inducing trend but if more people were to start doing something like this it could be a nightmare. Anyone else encounter anything similar?

paradigm · 15 Jun 2013 at 19:57

Were they using it in conjunction with a BYOD? If not then I'd probably have had their IT kit removed from them for breaching our AUP.

God knows what they could have been doing and downloading before plugging the device into our network.

darael · 15 Jun 2013 at 19:58

Usually in a workplace, bringing in your own I.T. equipment is heavily restricted because of security risks.

Antar Bolaeisk · 15 Jun 2013 at 20:01

It is restricted and I'm sure there'll be consequences. I'm not allowed to slap them for being silly sadly, the higher ups get to do that.

grudas · 15 Jun 2013 at 20:01

the only equipment i would bother bringing to work is a new mouse lol.

paradigm · 15 Jun 2013 at 20:05

I have my own keyboard, mouse and headphones (well and some of the switching fabric is mine, but only during a migration where we needed to implement a couple of disjointed networks).

Sliver · 15 Jun 2013 at 20:06

You guys are lucky. If I bring my own facial hair I get moaned at ! :eek:

JHeaton · 15 Jun 2013 at 20:09

Sliver said:
You guys are lucky. If I bring my own facial hair I get moaned at !

It's so hard to ensure that your beard has all the latest patches.

jpmonkey69 · 15 Jun 2013 at 20:11

JHeaton said:
It's so hard to ensure that your beard has all the latest patches.

Whilst you point may be a valid one, it's more than likely the sideburns would interfere with the firewall...

Stolly · 15 Jun 2013 at 21:35

Antar Bolaeisk said:
This was a new one to me, had someone complain that they couldn't get access to a shared drive and, upon investigation, the issue was that they were on an entirely different network. The user, not happy with the restrictions enforced by the firewall, decided to bring their own 3G router into work and use that instead.

Obviously the whole BYOD movement has been a bit of a headache inducing trend but if more people were to start doing something like this it could be a nightmare. Anyone else encounter anything similar?

Anyone trying that lark at my place of work would be out of a job. It would be seen as a deliberate attempt to bypass the various security systems.

Bobmunkhouse · 15 Jun 2013 at 21:37

BYOD has hit hard in my office which seems to consist of lots of people ponsing around with IPads with very little work functionally rather then the already supplied\supported company bought laptops...

Rroff · 15 Jun 2013 at 21:42

BYOD is actually being encouraged where I work - they have their own android/ios app that everything works through and the wifi w/ net access is completely isolated from the internal network (a lot of people just use 3G) - actually works out better for security on the internal network.

Wouldn't be so practical if people generally needed to use things like Office, etc. tho.

d_brennen · 15 Jun 2013 at 21:43

I really, really dislike this concept and will never willingly participate (though my PC is somewhat different to every other workstation

)

E: Rroff has posed an acceptable scenario. Aside from in house apps, which we do not operate, I oppose this concept

LordSplodge · 15 Jun 2013 at 21:50

Bobmunkhouse said:
BYOD has hit hard in my office which seems to consist of lots of people ponsing around with IPads with very little work functionally rather then the already supplied\supported company bought laptops...

Nobody wants a ***** company supplied Dell anymore.

Rroff said:
BYOD is actually being encouraged where I work - they have their own android/ios app that everything works through and the wifi w/ net access is completely isolated from the internal network (a lot of people just use 3G) - actually works out better for security on the internal network.

Wouldn't be so practical if people generally needed to use things like Office, etc. tho.

A progressive company. What a rare gem. Our place (and many others) still thinks you need Windows and Office.

Thankfully I'm special enough to use a Mac at work.

Rroff · 15 Jun 2013 at 21:57

LordSplodge said:
A progressive company. What a rare gem. Our place (and many others) still thinks you need Windows and Office.

It wouldn't work so well if the nature of the business meant people needed to use office and stuff like that on a more day to day basis. Much of the database frontend can be interfaced through the app tho even when working from home without need for a VPN, etc. which must make security hugely less hassle for IT. (Anything security critical is only exposed when connected via the company wifi - and I assume anything really important is still only available from the corporate wired network).

EDIT: Actually "security critical" isn't really the right term there (nothing is really security critical) but you don't get some of the higher level admin options unless your connected via the company wifi/network.

LordSplodge · 15 Jun 2013 at 22:10

Rroff said:
It wouldn't work so well if the nature of the business meant people needed to use office and stuff like that on a more day to day basis.

I don't think people need Office. They need word processing, spreadsheets, database and collaboration software. Alas in the world of business this means Microsoft Office (and SharePoint...but SharePoint isn't that bad anymore

)

semi-pro waster · 15 Jun 2013 at 22:12

LordSplodge said:
Thankfully I'm special enough to use a Mac at work.

Mac users are special, you heard it here first...

Sorry, just couldn't resist. I think in some ways I'd quite like to use a form of BYOD as it can't be worse than what we've got but it would probably prove too much of a security risk plus IT seem to have enough problems with the kit they supply without adding in new hardware. As close as I've come so far is bringing a spare mouse into a previous workplace as the mice they had were all hopeless, sadly I forgot it when I left the company but hopefully someone is getting some use out of it as it was way better than anything else there.

Pigeon_Killer · 15 Jun 2013 at 22:15

Bobmunkhouse said:
BYOD has hit hard in my office which seems to consist of lots of people ponsing around with IPads with very little work functionally rather then the already supplied\supported company bought laptops...

Same where I work. Just a few precious users who seem to think the business should fit around their needs rather than the other way around :mad:

Don't like the equipment you've been given to do your job? Do one.

grudas · 15 Jun 2013 at 22:18

IT actually trusts us sys admins and we had no problems killing windows on our pcs and installing ubuntulol.

Rroff · 15 Jun 2013 at 22:19

LordSplodge said:
I don't think people need Office. They need word processing, spreadsheets, database and collaboration software. Alas in the world of business this means Microsoft Office (and SharePoint...but SharePoint isn't that bad anymore )

Yeah most of the day to day stuff where I work people just need a database frontend, if they needed access to word processing, etc. then it would be another story none the least a proper keyboard, etc. theres still PCs for people who need to
produce presentations, etc.

If done properly tho for many businesses I think it would remove quite a lot of potential security risks from people bringing their own 3g dongle, potentially infected USB drives, etc.