Bangalore: Like it or not, BYOD is  gaining fast traction in the IT world, and according to a survey by network security specialist Fortinet, the first generation of BYOD participants could pose a serious security threat to corporate IT networks.

The survey that asked  thousands of young ‘20-something’  workers about their opinion regarding bring our own device policies (BYOD) found that slightly more than half of the young employees view it as their "right" to use their own mobile devices at work, rather than BYOD being just a "privilege." Moreover of the 3,872 young respondents, 1 out of 3 in retaliation to the corporate policies said that they would gladly go against the organisation and break any anti-BYOD rules and "contravene a company's security policy that forbids them to use their personal devices at work or for work purposes."

The survey also revealed that nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of respondents across all territories already regularly engage in the practice of bringing their personal devices at work. Whereas, 42 percent of the respondents suggested that the first generation of BYOD workers need to understand the risks BYOD poses by to their organizations, they also believe that data loss and exposure to malicious IT threats to be the dominant risk through BYOD.

“The survey clearly reveals the great challenge faced by organizations to reconcile security and BYOD,” Patrice Perche, vice president of international sales and support for Fortinet, said in a prepared statement. “While users want and expect to use their own devices for work, mostly for personal convenience, they do not want to hand over responsibility for security on their own devices to the organization.

"Within such an environment, organizations must regain control of their IT infrastructure by strongly securing both inbound and outbound access to the corporate network and not just implement mobile-device management, or MDM. Organizations cannot rely on a single technology to address the security challenges of BYOD. The most effective network security strategy requires granular control over users and applications, not just devices,” Perche added.