Managing a Mobile Workforce (cont.)

Mobile devices can make enterprises more productive, but they also introduce new risks

Incoming connections are immediately routed onto AFL's multiprotocol layer switching (MPLS) network, so all traffic flows through the company's proxies and firewalls. Microsoft Windows registries, virus definitions (using Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition virus protection), and ActiveX controls are automatically checked and updated on login. With a good wireless connection, the process takes seconds-and when it's complete, the computer is authenticated throughout the AFL network. The lesson, Rhome says, is to keep it simple and take advantage of industry standard tools. "We're not reinventing the wheel; we're just doing what you're supposed to do," he says. "Our system is controlled, efficient, cost conscious, and not bureaucratic. It works."

When a computer is lost or stolen, Rhome can immediately kill the wireless card remotely over the air. Since business-critical data is kept off the laptops, the machine then is "nothing more than a boat anchor," Rhome says. Motorola has about 5,000 of its Q smartphones deployed with employees, as well as an estimated 56,500 laptops deployed across the enterprise. In many cases, Qs, which use the Verizon mobile phone network, have the capability to replace laptops for Motorola employees.

"We're getting to the point where people are able to do their job with the Q and perhaps leave that PC at home or the office," Triplett says.

But it's been a challenge to engineer Motorola's business applications to work with these devices. First, there's the task of fitting the data onto a small screen. The bigger challenge is intermittent wireless connectivity. "We're seeing tremendous improvement in coverage from the carriers, but none of them are perfect," Triplett says. Motorola is now reworking applications to tolerate spotty connections.

Smartphones have different security weaknesses than laptops. Because they're so portable, they're more prone to go astray. What's more, smartphones are frequently on the hips of C-level executives who possess the most delicate kind of business information.

Worst of all, a new breed of "snoopware"-malicious software that takes advantage of the phone's personal nature-has been created for smartphones. Some programs send "Premium SMS" messages to scammers, causing mysterious charges to appear on the owner's bill. Others can remotely turn on the phone's microphone so strangers can listen to meetings and conversations. Some of these programs can be implanted on a smartphone via Bluetooth without the owner realizing it.

Unfortunately, most companies haven't addressed smartphone security challenges. In a survey sponsored by Symantec, the Economist Intelligence Unit found that just 26 percent of companies surveyed have assessed the security risks of smartphones versus the 81 percent that have considered the risks posed by laptops.