Secure Enterprise Apps only the Start to BYOD Security Policy

If you are one of the growing number of workers who want the ability to use your own device(s) and work from the comfort of your living room or the commuter train or poolside, the increase of business-based apps is only good news. Until recently, apps were designed for primarily for pleasure because that's what our smartphones and tablets were also designed for. Over the last year, however, we saw BYOD explode on the work scene.

Microsoft has taken a lead on security specifically for the BYOD crowd, with acquisitions like mobile security provider PhoneFactor  in order to deploy two-factor authentication technology to protect business applications on mobile devices. Now comes time for software developers to move security into enterprise app development.

For example, an article at Channelnomics points out how enterprise mobility firm Good Technology Corp. now offers quite a few enterprise apps. Stefanie Hoffman wrote: "But the biggest differentiator is that the slew of mobile productivity apps, developed by leveraging Good Dynamics mobile application platform and AppKinetics technology, can also exchange data securely. And for the channel, that indicates a security value-add that will be increasingly necessary for mobile collaboration applications incorporated in a greater mobile device management solution portfolio."

The operative phrase in that paragraph is "exchange data securely." Security is one of the primary questions that surround BYOD - and if it isn't, it should be. According to Gartner, Inc., there are three primary security hurdles that enterprise must address:

Impact 1 - The right of users to leverage the capabilities of their personal devices conflicts with enterprise mobile security policies ...