28 May Outlawed Apps: Enterprise Blacklist
It should be no surprise that user apps are rapidly becoming a sore point for IT departments. For most users, the lure of games, entertainment and social networking apps become just too strong to ignore on their shiny new smartphone, bringing all sorts of issues into the Enterprise. As a result, there are some apps that have become outlawed by the Digital Sheriffs of many organisations, banning their users from fratinizing with the enemy of productivity and security.
Zenprise, a MDM company that specialises in BYOD, recently released its Zenprise MDM Cloud Report, which details the top 10 apps Enterprises are blacklisting around the globe. It’s interesting to note that the number of blacklisted apps almost doubles the amount of whitelisted apps, with a few apps dominating the (for lack of a better term) “Greylisted” apps (those that are neither predominantly blacklisted or whitelisted).
Do these match up with the apps you have, or are looking to blacklist?
#1 Angry Birds
IT says no more to slinging disgruntled avians at mischievious swine during work hours! Angry Birds is about the only game to make the most blacklisted apps list, catapulting it into infamy among IT.
#2 Facebook
It should come as no surprise that a social media app has made the list for most blacklisted apps, with more than 900 million users at present, it’s almost guaranteed that users in your organisation are on Facebook and using it during work hours for non-work related activities.
#3 Google Play
It makes sense that in order to stop users downloading time wasting and potentially malicious apps onto their company phone, that you need to cut access to the source. With the added security concerns of android applications as a whole, the blacklisting of Google Play is certainly a no brainer.
#4 Dropbox
While Dropbox is handy for accessing your files anywhere and everywhere, the concern here is when John Doe leaves the company and takes confidential company documents with him. These could be stored on his dropbox account and accessed anywhere he can access dropbox.
#5 Skype
Skype is an interesting one, as it occupied more of the grey section and is usually touted as an excellent collaboration tool. The fear here maybe the use of Skype to call, text or even instant message both friends, local relatives and overseas relatives, reducing productivity.
#6 YouTube
With access to millions of videos online, this app is a productivity killer. But not only that, it’s a security risk. Imagine having a confidential meeting recorded and posted on YouTube either by accident or by a disgruntled employee?
#7 App Store
The same logic applies here as to Google Play. The app store gives employees access to these other apps such as Angry Birds, so by removing it, it becomes harder to get hold of these apps.
#8 Evernote
The whole premise of Evernote, is its ease of capturing and sharing information, meaning secure company information could be captured, stored and shared with the world.
#9 Cydia
For those of your users who are more tech savvy than most, Cydia enables them to download apps for jailbroken iPhones , iPods and iPads, which once again poses a security risk.
#10 Twitter
Like Facebook, the popularity of Twitter means there will be Twitter users in your organisation, who will want to tweet all day, everyday.