Wherever Next?

Working in IT has often given me reason to be amazed at the next thing that comes out.   People automatically expect me to understand everything about I.T., but in reality you end up just trying your best to stay up to speed with the latest tech that affects your own line of business.  But it never stops the fascination.

A few examples need to be made:-

1. Google's Automatic Self Driven Car (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiwVMrTLUWg)
2. Google Duplex (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5VN56jQMWM)
3. Oculus Interface (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMiAPnVvzAQ&t=101s)
4. Anki Vector (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy2Z2TWAt6A)

You might wonder why I've chosen those 4.   Have a look at the associated links for Videos that will explain them a little more.

In essence, technology has pushed forward into a new zone, that of taking on a greater part of our lives. 

It's going to start driving our cars, making decisions on the road, having conversations with people that we no longer have time for, developing virtual places to meet our friends so we don't have to leave our homes, and providing robots in the home instead of pets.

"Now hang on", I hear you say "You're an I.T. guy, surely you LOVE all this stuff?"

Yep, I do. But I'm balanced about it all too. I see the need for technology in certain areas of life, but never at the expense of taking it away from our physical abilities. 

They say it was never an exercise freak that invented the remote control.. it's true... once we allow a machine to do a job that we would normally do, then we stop training ourselves to do it.

We don't need to walk around a store to buy shopping when we can sit at home and do it online. We don't need to meet people in person if we can meet them in a virtual room. We don't need to enjoy the experience of driving, if the computer can drive for us. We don't need to make a phone call and talk to somebody if Google can do it.

I'll let you decide what you think is happening to technology. I'm not against it, but I won't let it take everything from me. 

I'm Over Here (Which Means I'm Not Over There)

Today, more than ever, people interact with social networking by means of their mobile devices, bringing images and unique interactive data to the masses.

We've often seen images of our friends on Facebook, or Twitter, or Instagram etc, with a location tag linked to the image.  Gradually our photo's on our devices get organised to location, so we can quickly find images we took when were were on our holiday in some sunny or fun location.

However, with this exciting and interesting addition, comes a word of caution - particularly if our privacy settings are not closed down enough.

With today's technology and search engine power, it is not too difficult for a criminal to build up a picture of your movements if your location services are switched on to public access.  They'll be able to see and work out where you are by following your twitter account, your Facebook account or your Instagram account and know when you are at various locations.  And of course, while you are in a new location... you are NOT at home.

It might be easy to conclude that nobody knows where you live, but with a few deductions, a few checks on the names of the friends you have, or the school you attended or place you work, your address details could easily be discovered.  We'll let your over imaginative thoughts conclude what could happen if a criminal knew where you lived and when you were not at home.

So what can we do about it?  

Let's not be party poopers and suggest that we don't take photo's of our holidays (although the thought of going through hundreds of "and this is another picture of that sandwich we ate in France" photo's does make us consider this). No realistically it would be a far better idea to ensure that our location services are restricted to friends and family and make sure that those we have listed amongst friends and family are just that. Friends and family.

Technology will always have it's place in society, it's made enough of an impact to never go out of fashion in today's life, but its also open to abuse. And abused it is. It's used to advance everything, including crime.  So by doing our part, we can reduce the risk of it happening to us.

BYOD

With mobile technology becoming more and more accessible to the general user and the advancement of such technology over the years, it's not uncommon to see people taking their tech into work with them or using such technology instead of work issued equipment.

BYOD or Bring Your Own Device has steadily become a bit of a nightmare for IT Departments because staff are keen to use their devices through work networks, but as ownership of the equipment belongs to the user and not the company, it becomes hard to impose restrictions upon the levels in which the user may gain access.

Is there an answer? Not an immediate or clear one, no. The reason is that staff want access but don't want their equipment touched by the IT team and the IT team don't want the users to have unchecked access or confidential work data on a personal device.

There are a few options:-

• Have a "Use our equipment or nothing" policy. This will cost the company a little more if technology is required. It will also mean that the user may possibly carry around two phone devices, but the security control on the work device remains under the control of the company.
• Allow personal devices within the workplace and hook them onto an independent WiFi router which bypasses the main network, keeping the two separate.
• Allow personal devices to be used, but maintain a strict watch over what kind of company information is accessible to those users

I don't think that there is a perfect scenario. Each company will have to make a decision on the trust and size of their personnel, but with a bit of planning and ensuring that policies are in place, BYOD can be beneficial to all.