Saving Money with IT Security Processes. Example 2/26: Retrieving Stolen Smartphones and Laptops

Article number 2 in a series dedicated to giving examples of the way IT security processes can help your company save money.

Companies lose a lot of money in stolen smartphones and laptops. It does not just amount to the price of hardware, it also includes the quantity of time lost by workers without their tools, the quantity of work needed to report the incident and to, optionally, declare it to the police and to an insurer. Besides, the devices can contain valuable information that the company will miss and that may be dangerous to put on the public place or in a competitor's hands.

It's possible to address the loss of smartphones and laptops with a sound BYOD* process. I'm not talking about a policy, I'm talking about a process, that includes:

• Securing information flows from/to devices with appropriate extranet and telecommuting tools.
• Making sure devices that will save company's property locally do have encryption features, access control features and geographical tracking activated.
• Inventory the types of devices and establish required procedures for each type, because the list is ever-growing, you can't do without managing it clearly.

* I'm talking about BYOD because it's time to face it: most devices are now no longer company devices.