For years, the “consumerization” of IT has referred to the practice of employees conducting workplace activities on their personal smartphones and tablets, or using consumer services like Gmail or social media for work purposes. However, the “gig economy” is about to consumerize the workplace to new levels, bringing changes that will significantly impact how CSOs and CISOs protect their businesses.
When large parts of the workforce or even entire staffs are made up of independent contractors, it’s not just devices or services that are being brought onto the corporate network from outside of IT’s purview. These “permalancers” will be operating as complete outsiders to the corporate infrastructure, so to speak, which will test the boundaries of current IT-department protocols. IT will have to think beyond established bring-your-own-device (BYOD) practices; companies relying so heavily on freelancers now need to construct new “bring-your-own-identity” policies that will enable these workers to move freely and safely about the network, while keeping company infrastructure protected.