Seven BYOD policy essentials

Like it or not, the "bring your own device" (BYOD) trend is in full swing. According to Juniper Research, the number of employee-owned smartphones and tablets used in businesses will more than double by 2014, reaching 350 million compared with almost 150 million this year.

But if your company is like most, you may not have instituted a formal policy that safeguards against BYOD risks. A recent study by security awareness training company KnowBe4 and research firm ITIC found that 71% of businesses that allow BYOD have no specific policies or procedures in place to ensure security.

"There needs to be some policy-based level of control, some sort of documentation or contract or rules," says Hyoun Park, principal analyst at Nucleus Research. A BYOD policy should be like any of the many documents that employees must sign to receive benefits, outlining their rights, responsibilities and rules they must comply with, he says.