An increasing number of employees are insisting on using their own choices of technology in the workplace, causing security problems for employers, Cisco Systems security specialist John-Paul Sikking says.
Employers were already trying to deal with the need for their workers to access social networking sites during work time as the sites became a necessary workplace tool.
Growing use of the "cloud" was also providing security issues and it had become a struggle for employers to control devices owned by staff as they were "very precious" about them.
"Employers want to apply safety controls to the devices so they can be used safely on the [work] network."
Part of the problem was, in many workplaces, employees could bring their own devices to work, plug them into the work network - either through wireless or standard cables.
Cisco has partnered with Telecom-owned Gen-i to provide new security options for employers as their staff used more of their own devices on work networks.
Gen-i Otago-Southland regional manager Peter Thomas said the range of security being offered was based on people, not IP addresses.
"Security rules are implemented on who you are not what computer you are using."
Many of the Gen-i staff in the region requested devices that met their own particular work needs. That ranged from iPads through to BlackBerry Playbooks, the Motorola Xoom and the Huawei Slim Tablet.
Some of the staff had multiple devices, he said.
Taking an iPad, or tablet, to meetings was a growing trend. Answers to work questions were often found on Google without the need for anyone to leave the meeting to do research, Mr Thomas said.
Mr Sikking said Cisco had changed its policy to allow Apple Mac devices on to its network when it discovered there were already 3000 Apple devices being used on its network by staff. Within months, 11,000 Apple devices were on the network but unless Cisco had looked, it would not have discovered them.
Asked why people were using their own devices rather than ones being provided by their employers, Mr Sikking said it was similar to a case of an employer providing a company car.
"Would an employee prefer a Holden Barina or be given $15,000 to find a car they like?"
Mr Sikking said a wide age range of people wanted to use personally chosen devices at work. The trend was being driven by both the top level of management and lower-level workers.
"The chief executive office can buy a tablet, say 'that's fantastic' and want one for all of the sales force. Or enough people start bringing their own devices to work to drive the change."
Mr Thomas said it was possible for Gen-i to provide security walls for individual employees.
For instance, in his case, no matter what device he logged on to at work, he could gain access to only the areas for which he had permission. If he left the building, all he could access on the device was the internet.
That also prevented others logging on as himself and gaining access to prohibited areas.
Dynamic filters could also be installed to prevent people going to infected websites. Recently, a banner on The New York Times site was corrupted and when people clicked on the banner, their data was gathered by malicious software.
"There is business value in using LinkedIn and Facebook, but there is no business value if the content is corrupted."
