Securing Personally Owned Mobile Device Access to Customer Information

IS Auditor's Greatest Concern: Personally Owned Mobile Devices and Customer Data

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Question

An organization allows employees to use personally owned mobile devices to access customers' personal information.

An IS auditor's GREATEST concern should be whether:

Answers

Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

C.

The IS auditor's greatest concern when employees are allowed to use personally owned mobile devices to access customers' personal information is whether mobile device security policies have been implemented (Option C).

Explanation:

Mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops have become ubiquitous in the modern workplace, and employees increasingly use these devices to access sensitive company and customer information. The use of personally owned mobile devices (Bring Your Own Device - BYOD) in the workplace brings several challenges to the organization, including security risks.

The IS auditor's primary concern when employees use their personal devices to access customer information is whether the organization has implemented mobile device security policies. Security policies are the foundation of any security program, and they guide the implementation of security controls and practices.

Mobile device security policies should cover several areas, such as:

  1. Device management: How the organization manages the devices and ensures they meet the organization's security requirements.

  2. Access control: How the organization controls access to information on the device, including password requirements, encryption, and multi-factor authentication.

  3. Data protection: How the organization protects data on the device, including encryption of data at rest and in transit.

  4. Incident management: How the organization manages security incidents on the device, including incident response and reporting.

  5. Acceptable use: What the organization considers acceptable use of the device, including prohibited activities such as downloading unauthorized software or using public Wi-Fi.

Implementing mobile device security policies is critical to managing the security risks associated with BYOD. Without such policies, personal devices may not be adequately secured or managed, which could lead to data breaches, theft, or loss of customer data.

While options A, B, and D are also important considerations for an IS auditor, they are not the primary concern in this scenario. Compatibility with company infrastructure (Option A) is important but can be managed through device management policies. The capability to segregate business and personal data (Option B) is important for privacy reasons but does not necessarily address security concerns. Adequate storage and backup capabilities (Option D) are important but not the primary concern when employees use personal devices to access customer data.

In summary, the IS auditor's greatest concern when employees use personal devices to access customer data is whether mobile device security policies have been implemented to ensure the security of the organization's and customers' data.