Managing a Mobile Workforce (cont.)

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

Symantec Mobile Security 5.0

Windows mobile devices are becoming tempting targets for malware writers. To combat this growing threat, Symantec has released Symantec Mobile Security Suite 5.0 for Windows Mobile and Symantec Mobile VPN for Windows Mobile. This enterprise suite features antivirus, firewall, VPN, loss mitigation, and network access control. Loss mitigation provides flexible protection from data loss and theft and includes antivirus, remote wipe and kill, data encryption, and a file activity log. The file activity log helps administrators determine if confidential files have been accessed. If a device is lost, the IT department can remotely retrieve the activity log to see what's been read from or written to the device and then perform a remote wipe and kill to remove the potentially confidential data. Network access control provides a client-side device check to ensure that all critical applications, such as antivirus, are configured and running properly.

Secure steps

In spite of the steep cost-as much as 30 percent of security costs for mobile devices Triplett estimates-encryption of data on devices is fast becoming the industry norm. Another must-have: "poison pill" software-also known as "remote wipe and kill." It lets network administrators render a smartphone inoperable if it is lost or stolen.

Triplett says corporate culture needs to address the blurring lines between work life and personal life. "I'm not sure we have solved all the social issues related to smartphones, in terms of inspiring trust that an office device isn't Big Brother, and that I can run my personal life separate from the business and vice versa," he says. "Over the next three years, that's going to be one of our top challenges."

As a starting point for addressing this challenge, Motorola in 2007 introduced an information protection policy covering four topics: responsibilities of information users, appropriate use of information resources, information classifications and standards, and privacy.

Rhome stresses the need for IT departments to stay in control as mobile devices evolve. "You need to be conscious of new technology and have a plan for how you deploy it," he says. "If you're not careful, one minute you'll say, 'This is cool,' and the next minute you'll be paying US$100,000 a month for it, and it will be difficult to track who has what." He anticipates that some AFL employees will soon move to smartphones, and he plans to issue the devices himself rather than have employees buy and expense them. "By doing so, we would be better able to provide end-user support," he says. "Commonalities among devices lower overall cost and improve the ability of IT to service them."

That's important because making smartphones and other devices useful is the key to future business value. Mobile devices, Triplett says, let "the convergence of information sources and intelligence deliver new capabilities and competitive advantage. It's all about having information mobile and available at a time when action can be taken."

Fred Sandsmark's work also appears in Silicon Valley Tech Week and Sunset.