31 May 2025
It can be tricky to implement a mobile security policy without disrupting your workforce. Problems arise further when you factor in the rise of hybrid work arrangements and the poor device visibility that arises from them.
As we speak, many Australian organisations now grapple with balancing robust cybersecurity controls against practical usability, especially when it comes to mobile and BYOD compliance.
For this problem, the Essential Eight model offers clear guidelines. However, what happens when you put these rules into practice?
With the Essential Eight model, there’s no need to worry about your mobile security policy getting in the way of workflows. Of course, Essential Eight effectiveness depends on the maturity level at which you implement it.
There are four levels of maturity. Each comes in varying forms of restrictiveness and will affect your users differently. Level zero is the most unobtrusive, so levels one to three will be the ones that should concern you.
At this initial stage, your users maintain considerable freedom, with minimal friction. Users are free to install personal apps, are gently reminded about updates, and experience only minor MFA (multi-factor authentication) requirements.
There will be more controls and guardrails on device usage when your organisation escalates to level 2. At this level, Users now must install apps through corporate-approved channels like Intune or Company Portal. BYOD compliance becomes trickier because personal apps remain inaccessible pending approval.
At level 2, expect more mandatory OS and app updates. MFA will also become more frequent, which can be cumbersome when users switch apps or change networks.
Indeed, security increases at level 2. With that said, there may be more helpdesk tickets and employee resistance, especially from BYOD users sensitive to privacy and convenience.
Implementing Level 3 is the strongest approach to cybersecurity controls but can significantly impact user productivity. Here, there are restrictions on personal app installations. OS updates must be immediate, and devices not meeting strict compliance guidelines are inaccessible unless approved.
Corporate-owned devices handle this better, but expect a lot of employee frustration, pushback, and support calls. As with level 2, level 3 is excellent for cybersecurity controls but may cause friction among your users who are mindful of BYOD compliance.
It’s easy to implement a mobile security policy for organisation-owned devices. Things get tricky with BYOD. When you roll out cybersecurity controls for the latter, expect:
It’s tough to balance protection and productivity. Knowing this, we developed our Atrium Managed Mobility Service (MMS).
Powered by Atrium, our MMS solution can help your organisation achieve mobile security without overwhelming your users. The result is seamless cybersecurity control implementation and seamless adoption across your organisation.
Making life easier for your users. Contact us today and make your mobile security policy implementation seamless.
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