Software Provider Urges Third Sector To Consider BYOD

Charities and not-for-profits (NFPs) must implement a formal BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy or risk reputational damage and IT security risks.

This is according to accounting and business software provider Advanced Exchequer in a newly published whitepaper.

The firm claims that third sector organisations should educate key stakeholders on mobile safety and measures that can be taken to safeguard data and networks.

Advanced praises charities for taking advantage of the opportunities new technology presents – however, it worries about the risks that allowing employees and volunteers to use their own devices could pose.

According to the company’s managing director Greg Ford, it is imperative that NFPs have strong security policies when storing confidential donor and beneficiary data.

“While it is tempting for charitable organisations to allow staff and volunteers to use their personal devices to save costs and drive donations without a formal and explicit policy on BYOD, they run the risk of encountering a damaging security breach,” claimed Ford.

Strict, Clear Policies Needed

The Advanced whitepaper recommends that third sector organisations create a BYOD policy that is regularly communicated to staff, trustees and volunteers.

These rules should outline what data is acceptable to share and process on personal devices and best practice security procedures.

The firm says the policy should also explain measures to be taken should a device be compromised, for example automatically wiping data or denying access to network systems to prevent sensitive information falling into the wrong hands.

Besides this, Advanced urges the third sector to reinforce its own IT infrastructure to safeguard movement of data to and from mobile devices.

“As charities continue to wrestle with limited budgets and greater demands from staff to use their own devices, now is the time for them to think seriously about BYOD and data security,” claimed Ford.

“By creating a consistent and coherent BYOD strategy, organisations can mitigate the threat of security vulnerabilities and empower employees and volunteers to use mobile technologies to help generate vital funds, without placing donor relationships at risk,” he added.

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