Pokemon Go a Network Malware Nightmare
Pokémon Go has taken the world by storm, even though it is nothing more than a silly little game that people play on their mobile device. And it is not just child’s play, either. Plenty of adults are hooked on Pokémon Go—including college degreed professionals who conduct business on company owned devices as well as mobile devices of their own that they bring to work.
Pokémon Go is chockful of security risks, says the International Association of IT Asset Managers. If you run a company in which employees use your mobile devices, and/or you permit or know that employees conduct your company’s business on their personal phones, you’d better take this warning seriously.
Employer solution: ban the Pokémon Go application from mobile devices: those given to workers by the company, and those personally owned by the workers who bring them to the workplace.
Pokémon Go malware is on the upswing, and it poses a security threat to company e-mail. It also presents a possible malware threat to cloud storage.
Company decision makers must not be swayed by the popularity of this game, and instead, must see it for what it truly is: just a game. So yes, it just might be one of the smartest moves a company may make to outright prohibit this app for BYOD and company owned mobile phones. Or, at least, abolish it on just the company owned devices. But something needs to be done, urges the IAITAM.
Company decision makers can ask themselves a classic question: “Is my company better with Pokémon Go or without it?” Or, to put it another way, create a risk-benefit ratio. How can this game possibly benefit employees? How can this game harm the business? See which list is longer or has more compelling answers.
Robert Siciliano personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.
