Nearly half of UK adults now use their personal smartphone, laptop or tablet for work purposes but only 30 per cent of those who do are issued with guidance by employers, a survey by the Information Commissioners Office has found.

The ICO has published guidance today, alongside the survey results, advising that such a lax approach puts people's personal information at risk.

“The rise of smartphones and tablet devices means that many of the common daily tasks we would have previously carried out on the office computer can now be worked on remotely. While these changes offer significant benefits to organisations, employers must have adequate controls in place to make sure this information is kept secure," said Simon Rice, ICO group manager for technology.

“The cost of introducing these controls can range from being relatively modest to quite significant, depending on the type of processing being considered, and might even be greater than the initial savings expected. Certainly the sum will pale into insignificance when you consider the reputational damage caused by a serious data breach. This is why organisations must act now," he added.

In October last year the ICO issued its first penalty to a charity for a data security breach when a member of social care charity Norwood left records including sensitive information on a doorstep. It was fined £70,000 by the regulator. Last month the Nursing and Midwifery Council became the second charity to be fined by the ICO, receiving a £150,000 penalty for losing unencrypted DVDs containing personal information.

The most common use of personal devices for work purposes was found to be email with 55 per cent of those who 'bring your own device' using it for this purpose. Next in line were editing work documents (37 per cent) and storing work documents (36 per cent).

The ICO advises using a strong password to secure your devices, enabling encryption to store data securely and to use public cloud-based and public backup services with extreme caution. The full guidance document can be accessed here.

 

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