Netflix Protecting Data over Devices; BYOD and eDiscovery
Make no mistake about it I’m a huge fan of Netflix. Can you say “Season Two of Homeland” woot woot!! With that, Netflix caught my attention the other day in a recent article by V3.co.uk which reported that Netflix, the game-changing television and movie streaming service provider, has taken an outside-the-box angle on BYOD management. According to the article, the company is most interested in maintaining a corporate culture that is rich with trust and freedom. As such, it has chosen to not incorporate BYOD security, or mobile device management software and policies.
Instead of governing employee-owned devices, the source explained that Netflix only protects data, which has been highly helpful in ensuring employees feel empowered while at work. Leaders from the organization stated that they believed overly burdensome security standards will lead to rogue IT and under-the-radar actions.
Legal perspectives;
Inside Counsel recently explained some of the major challenges of BYOD in light of legal-oriented information governance policies. Especially in the financial services and healthcare sectors, data security is a major concern, as failure to keep track of where information is being accessed from and transferred to can lead to significant fines and sanctions.
The source explained that eDiscovery puts yet another strain on information management in BYOD environments, as data needs to be both secure and comprehensively monitored. Think about when an employee leaves the company, obviously bringing his personal device with him. While that data might be secure, it will be far more difficult to track throughout its lifecycle.
Then, when a request for electronically stored information comes through the pipeline, and that data has been stored on a device owned by an employee who left months ago, the headache begins.
Instead of fighting an up-hill battle, organizations need to implement all of the necessary controls and policies preemptively to ensure the integrity of information governance. Firms that do not have the associated skills sets would do well to hire a firm that specializes in information management and data governance.
Management;
If you’re a manager or executive, you might have already started to feel like more of a parent than ever before, especially as employees are bringing in their favorite gadgets to work regularly. You might have felt the need to tell so and so he can’t use that smartphone or tablet to play games at work, or that he can after getting all of his work done.
However, bring your own device (BYOD) has rapidly become a more intrinsic business challenge than a silly rift between management and other employees. Companies are leveraging this trend to decrease equipment expenditures, drive productivity and step into the modern era of corporate computing.
While this all seems great, security and information management will be a major mountain to climb once personal devices begin to enter the office, especially when it comes to eDiscovery.
Corporate Culture and Balance.
Whether Netflix method is going to be effective is yet to be determined. The key will be to take a balanced approach with corporate culture in mind. No matter what, organizations need to pay attention to their data security and information governance capabilities when launching BYOD.
Sources used:
https://www.insidecounsel.com/2013/09/10/e-discovery-is-byod-a-b-a-d-idea