Monday, May 3, 2004
The Risks Of Rogue Technology
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "ARTICLE" @ 03:00 AM
http://www.cfo.com/Article?article=11699
"People will try all sort of things to wring more productivity from fewer IT dollars, but nonstandardized, ''rogue'' technology has many hidden costs. Here's how not to get stuck with more than you bargained for...Seemingly innocuous PDAs can enable unauthorized wireless access, too. "A lot of these new pocket PCs have built-in wireless, and it seems reasonable that if you're floating around at Starbucks with one of these with no firewall, it's just a matter of time before some mastermind figures out a way to hack it," says Galen Schreck, a Forrester research analyst. "We haven't seen any pocket PC viruses yet, but they're inevitable. Besides, there's always the risk of losing it, which is lot harder to do with a laptop. Meanwhile, you've got 64 megabytes of RAM in there that may contain sensitive company information."
I don't know about you, but my first PDA was a personal purchase, brought in through the back door of my company. There was no WiFi back then, but I used the modem to RAS into the network and remotely ActiveSync - actually it was called Windows CE Services back then - and eventually got a Compact Flash Ethernet card. I had to spend a bit of time with one of the guys in IT getting him comfortable with the technology.
Now that I am responsible for the IT at my company, I have to watch out for what people bring in - everything from hardware to software that is downloaded onto their laptops. If you are the one bringing in rogue technology, you should give this a read to see why your IT department is afraid of you doing that. If you are in IT, you should give this a read to see why you should be careful, but not draconian, about what you allow your users to use beyond the basic company standards.
"People will try all sort of things to wring more productivity from fewer IT dollars, but nonstandardized, ''rogue'' technology has many hidden costs. Here's how not to get stuck with more than you bargained for...Seemingly innocuous PDAs can enable unauthorized wireless access, too. "A lot of these new pocket PCs have built-in wireless, and it seems reasonable that if you're floating around at Starbucks with one of these with no firewall, it's just a matter of time before some mastermind figures out a way to hack it," says Galen Schreck, a Forrester research analyst. "We haven't seen any pocket PC viruses yet, but they're inevitable. Besides, there's always the risk of losing it, which is lot harder to do with a laptop. Meanwhile, you've got 64 megabytes of RAM in there that may contain sensitive company information."
I don't know about you, but my first PDA was a personal purchase, brought in through the back door of my company. There was no WiFi back then, but I used the modem to RAS into the network and remotely ActiveSync - actually it was called Windows CE Services back then - and eventually got a Compact Flash Ethernet card. I had to spend a bit of time with one of the guys in IT getting him comfortable with the technology.
Now that I am responsible for the IT at my company, I have to watch out for what people bring in - everything from hardware to software that is downloaded onto their laptops. If you are the one bringing in rogue technology, you should give this a read to see why your IT department is afraid of you doing that. If you are in IT, you should give this a read to see why you should be careful, but not draconian, about what you allow your users to use beyond the basic company standards.
