What Bosses Can and Can't See On Your Smartphone
The NSA isn't the only one that has Americans nervous about their privacy. Many employees worry that accessing company data on their smartphones and tablets means their employers can see their personal data. The good news is that those fears are somewhat overblown.
A study by mobile security provider MobileIron revealed a significant gap between what employees think their employer has access to and what they really do. For example, 15 percent of employees who use their personal mobile device for work think their company can see their text messages when, in fact, this is not technically possible on platforms like Apple's iOS.
On the other hand, only 28 percent of those surveyed think their employers can even see their company email, when, in fact, all company email is accessible to employers because it travels through company servers.
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Overall, 15 percent of workers aren't even sure if their employer can access any of the data on their personal smartphones and tablets they use for work, while 44 percent know they can, but don't know exactly what they can see.
To help employees better understand, MobileIron compiled a list of information that can be accessed. The data employers can actually see includes:
Carrier and country
Make, model, OS version
Device identifier (e.g. IMEI).
Phone number
Complete list of apps installed
Location of device
Battery level
Storage capacity and use
Corporate email and attachments (via Exchange server same as PC)
Corporate contacts (via Exchange server same as PC)
Despite suspicions to the contrary, the personal data employers aren't able to look at includes:
Information in apps — unless the app has been built to transmit information to a corporate server
Personal email and attachments
Texts
Photos
Videos
Web browsing activity
Voicemails
The study found that in order to increase employees' trust in their employer's commitment to protecting privacy, those surveyed wanted clear communication. More than a quarter of workers said the most important thing is to explain in detail the purpose of seeing certain information on the device, and how they separate personal content from work content.
Other steps workers would like to see their organizations take: provide written notification about what they can and cannot see, and ask their permission, in writing, before any data is accessed.
The study was based on surveys of nearly 3,000 employees in the U.S., U.K. and Germany.
This story was provied by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow Chad Brooks on Twitter @cbrooks76 or BusinessNewsDaily @BNDarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+. This story originally published on BusinessNewsDaily.
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