Businesses are concerned that camera phones can
compromise their security and employees' privacy, and many
businesses are trying to ban camera phones from their
offices.
According to Gartner, an outright ban of camera phones is
short-sighted and will be hard to enforce.
By 2006, more than 80% of mobile phones shipped in the US and
Western Europe will have cameras. As camera phones account for a
larger portion of the overall mobile phone market, companies will
need to implement security programmes that can be managed
realistically.
"Most organisations simply do not have the staff or money to
mount effective inspections," said Ken Dulaney, research
vice-president at Gartner.
"Instead, businesses should designate secure zones where
restrictions on these devices are tight and can be enforced. For
other workplace areas, staff should be given guidelines about what
is acceptable."
"Usage guidelines will be far more effective than outright bans,
because it is not just the phones' cameras which could pose a
security risk," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.
"For example, many phones can also record voices. Therefore, it
is hard to decide where to draw a firm line about what can and
cannot be used at work."
Gartner analysts said the flood of high-tech consumer devices,
and not just camera phones, entering the workplace could,
potentially, pose a security risk.
"There are Universal Serial Bus 'key ring' drives, some of which
will soon feature built-in cameras that can quickly connect to
almost any recent PC and take large amounts of information off the
premises. There is also a new wave of DVD burners to contend with,"
said Dulaney.
"Any company policy directed at camera phones should be widened
to address the transfer of information from enterprise environments
to consumer devices in general."
Written by
Computing Staff SA