Gen-Y Embrace BYOD Regardless of Policy, Survey Finds

A new survey commissioned by security firm Fortinet reports that many young employees are willing to circumvent corporate business policies regarding their personal devices.

The survey, dubbed ‘The Fortinet Internet Security Census 2012,’ was conducted by research company Vision Critical and fielded responses from 3,872 individuals aged 20 to 29 and working fulltime. The study found that more than one-in-three (36 percent) employees would ignore a policy that forbid them from using their own devices at work.

Fifty-percent of the respondents said they view using their device at work as a ‘right’ rather than a ‘privilege,’ and 74 percent said they regularly bring their own devices to work. This disregard for corporate policies seen as heavy-handed however does not translate to a total blindness to security: the survey found that 66 percent consider themselves – and not the company – to be responsible for the security of any personal device they use at work.

When asked about policies banning the use of non-approved applications, 30 percent of respondents admitting they have or would contravene a policy. In addition, 69 percent of respondents confirmed they are interested in Bring Your Own Application (BYOA) — where users create and use their own custom applications at work.

“The survey clearly reveals the great challenge faced by organizations to reconcile security and BYOD,” said Patrice Perche, international vice president of International Sales &Support for Fortinet, in a statement. “While users want and expect to use their own devices for work, mostly for personal convenience, they do not want to hand over responsibility for security on their own devices to the organization. Within such an environment, organizations must regain control of their IT infrastructure by strongly securing both inbound and outbound access to the corporate network and not just implement mobile device management or “MDM.”