The idea of encouraging workers to bring and use their own personal mobile and computing devices in the workplace may appeal to the bean-counters. However, such a strategy can be fraught with challenges, for example managing what data and apps are present on the device and ensuring that sensitive business information is adequately protected from loss or theft of the devices concerned.

But perhaps the greatest threat is from the installation of personal apps and the less than remote possibility that employees might fall prey to social engineering and inadvertently download malicious apps to their devices. Those apps could theoretically then have full access to the corporate network and data resources.