IBM Bans Use of Siri on Employees’ iPhones
New advances in technology for smartphones, tablets and computers, while eagerly embraced by users, often bring new risks of data breaches or loss of data privacy. Companies that allow their employees to use their own personal devices for work-related purposes may be especially vulnerable. Because of these risks, IBM recently decided to ban the use of Siri — the powerful voice-recognition software on the new iPhone — on employees’ phones.
According to The Exchange blog on Yahoo Finance, IBM is concerned that “Apple takes all communications made through the Siri function of the iPhone 4S and sends them to a data center to be translated and answered. No one outside Apple is certain how long the data is stored or who sees it.” User queries are uploaded to Apple’s servers, and IBM is concerned that this could “ultimately reveal sensitive information,” according to the MIT Technology Review.
IBM has taken other precautions to protect its data when employees access it via devices, including configuring devices so that their memories can be erased remotely if the devices are lost or stolen, disabling public file-transfer programs such as iCloud and limiting the types of data that employees can access, depending on their job responsibilities and the types of devices they are using.
In a survey of employees, IBM found that they were “blissfully unaware” of which apps might cause data-security risks. The company’s chief technology officer said that "We found a tremendous lack of awareness as to what constitutes a risk."
Educating employees about the precautions they should take with sensitive data is a crucial step in thwarting data breaches. WeComply’s online information security training course uses interactive features to reinforce its important message.
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