Most companies have very strict rules about not allowing their employees to have laptops in the office or bring their own personal laptops into the office. What are the security issues for using personal laptops?

Does anyone know of a standard set of guidelines for determining who should or shouldn't receive a laptop? Is there a list of requirements that a user would have to meet in order to justify receiving a laptop?

Freelancer should send a free laptop to all the mods.....
As gesture of good will......

What are the security issues for using personal laptops?

Because you never know what kind of crap they do with their own laptops. They could be infested with all kinds of malware or dodgy software that could easily transfer to the company network.
Been there, had it almost happen, fortunately the security measures that were in place on the network machines (company IT manager in a former life) threw up alerts as a trojan attempted to attack several other machines.

Who should get company provided laptops?
Anyone who definitely needs to work outside of the office network and/or office hours.

@Jim
Nice try mate!

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Because you never know what kind of crap they do with their own laptops. They could be infested with all kinds of malware or dodgy software that could easily transfer to the company network.
Been there, had it almost happen, fortunately the security measures that were in place on the network machines (company IT manager in a former life) threw up alerts as a trojan attempted to attack several other machines.

Would VPN solve this concern?

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Who should get company provided laptops?
Anyone who definitely needs to work outside of the office network and/or office hours.

I would assume important engineering people, of course top level executives, and who else? Some market analyst? Some business development executives?

I spent a lot of time working out of the office...
However, my choice was a gun instead of a puter.....)

Freelancer should send a free laptop to all the mods

That's the only criteria I can think of. Where do we put in our orders?

top level executives

Are often the least tech savvy people in the company and sometimes those best not having a laptop. Of course since they make they rules they get what they want.

I don't think there's a single answer to the question. It really depends on the company the employees. There are some employees who will absolutely need a computer that goes home with them and there are those who won't need or want one. It also depends on how irreplaceable the employee wanting a laptop is to the company. If your $10/hr data entry guy is demanding a laptop it's probably easier to find a new data entry guy. If it's your lead designer who gives you a competitive edge across the industry, probably best to give your designer what he or she asks for.

Originally Posted by Shey

Would VPN solve this concern?

It does until they plugin to the office network.
With a machine that is locked down using system policies you can prevent installation of software that is not approved or allowed by the policies set by the administrators while the machine is disconnected from the domain controller.

Originally Posted by Shey

I would assume important engineering people, of course top level executives, and who else? Some market analyst? Some business development executives?

Obviously it depends on the type of business, but for the company I worked for it was the directors, the accounts managers who often worked at one of the satellite offices several times a month, and the project managers who were visiting clients and attending site progress meetings every day of the week, who were more often out of the office than they were in.

Manager... But tell him/her to put the laptop inside the drawer before leaving office.