Downsides to using personal iPhone on corporate network?

[MattSharp]

I recently discovered that my company will allow my phone to be setup with work e-mail via ActiveSync. It would be nice to have work e-mail and calendar on my phone all the time, but I am thinking there might be downsides.

I know the obvious one, that they have the ability to remote wipe my phone at any time. This only mildly worries me, because what if it's done at an inopportune time on accident or something? Otherwise, it's added safety, knowing that I could have my phone remote wiped if I ever lost it.

One of my major questions is, will enabling this give my company access to anything else on my phone? Will they be able to view anything but e-mail/contacts/calendars they provide, i.e. my personal contacts? What about text messages, email, etc.?

Anything else I should know?

[james515]

allowing company email on a personal device not provided by the company, is usually a violation of security policies for most companies.

If your company allows this you must ask yourself, If I lost this device, is there anything on there that I would NOT want to see on the news or the front page of a news paper???

[THeBadMonkey]

For me the main issue would be you would always be at work, and while having those contacts and things are useful they are not worth the interruption of your night. In my case I turn my work phones Email off at night - if its that important they can call me.
Secondly there is the issue of liability, if you lose your phone and some one uses it to access company data you are liable as opposed to the company as it is your equipment

THe way I look at is work stuf is for work and my home stuff is for fun!

[IanCT]

I know the obvious one, that they have the ability to remote wipe my phone at any time. This only mildly worries me, because what if it's done at an inopportune time on accident or something? Otherwise, it's added safety, knowing that I could have my phone remote wiped if I ever lost it.

I doubt any administrator capable of running an Exchange server would "accidentally" wipe your phone. Speaking from experience as an Exchange 2003 admin, you can't accidentally wipe an ActiveSync enabled phone. There is no "Wipe Phone Now" button in plain sight. Be certain if it did happen, it wasn't on accident. But it is perfect if you lose your phone or if it's stolen.

One of my major questions is, will enabling this give my company access to anything else on my phone? Will they be able to view anything but e-mail/contacts/calendars they provide, i.e. my personal contacts? What about text messages, email, etc.?

No. Admins will not be able to view anything on your phone, however, that said - whatever is stored on your Exchange account (email/contacts/calendar) they CAN see if they so choose but that is normally a privacy issue and depending on the company's user acknowledgement form (if exists) or company IT policy, they can either do it at any time without warning, or have to notify you first.

But anything on your phone, MP3 audio, text messages, personal contacts (not synced with ActiveSync) they cannot access.

You can always use IMAP to sync your email (if enabled by the company), but IMAP will not sync your contacts or calendar.