Corporate networks will soon be struggling under the weight of BYOD and IOT connections as the number of these devices continues to mushroom.
With the number of these devices anticipated to grow from five billion now to 20 billion by 2020 (Gartner estimates), recognising and securing unknown operating systems will be an increasing challenge, says ForeScout CEO Michael DeCesare in this exclusive video interview with SCMagazineUK.com.
Staff – the source of this mobile electronic army – are bringing these devices to work with the expectation of being able to connect to the corporate Wi-Fi. As these devices are not controlled by the IT department but operating within a trusted zone, they carry substantial risks to the organisation.
With the new generation of devices coming along, there is less opportunity to secure them directly. With a corporate owned device such as a laptop or Blackberry phone, security agents can be installed on the device to manage identity and access, but with the myriad devices now flooding into the workplace, there are many hardened operating systems which simply do not allow agents to be installed.
“It's staggering how high the growth is in that other category,” DeCesare said. “That's the scary part of this – when you look between 2016 and 2020, that next 20 billion connected devices aren't all Windows and Linux – they are all different operating systems.”
