Imagine you lose your cell phone. It has all your personal and professional data. From confidential emails about the new project to pictures with your family. Even after searching every nook and cranny, if you still cannot find it, then the last resort would be to call your office administrator and request you to wipe your cell clean.
Yes. If you are using your own device, cell phone or laptop, for office work, then the administrator of your official email account has an excess to your data, private or professional. Arisudan Yadav, a Senior Practise Manager, says that this has both boons and banes. If you quit a job after fighting with your boss, he can simply reset your phone and wipe off all the data.
“But the biggest advantage is that, it can also save you when your device is lost. As a principle, organisations never take a revenge in such a nasty manner. But it is a good way to protect data. Plus, even if the admin has access to your device, he cannot actually see your mails and other personal content.”
Arisudan says, “Earlier there was a device management system called Airwatch. Now there is a Microsoft suit called InTune. This acts as a device administrator in cases of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). It ensures that an organisation’s data does not go out of the system. It provides two levels of security. If you have a pin or pattern to unlock your phone, it requires a second level of security to access office data on the Microsoft 365 suit.”
This helps to locate your device in case of theft or loss. He says, “When you quit an organisation, you can uninstall the app, and this will disconnect your personal data from the professional data.”
Ameya Paratkar, an expert on government privacy policies, with experience on cloud computing domains with many multinationals says, “Every employee should speak to the Human Resources regarding the privacy of their data. It falls the Email Retention Policy framed by the HR. As an employee, you should know its limits, you can request for them to define the time scale, size and functions of the official email id that they provide you with.”
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If an organisation accesses the mails on your own device, even if it is official mails, it could mean a simple case of hacking. And that is an offence. The admin would have to change the password and then only would be able to access the mails and data on your own device.
BYOD rules are laid out in every organisation. You need to be aware about them if you use your personal devices for official work. Ameya asserts that the best way to ensure privacy of data is to be aware of the rules and loopholes therein.
