Mobile Devices Security Risks

Mobile devices present eight areas of risk:

1. Loss of general company data and files from these increasingly memory-laden devices.

2. Key sales contacts could go to a competitor—or be lost altogether.

3. Physical loss of the device.

4. The employee's time to recover from the loss—which can be a few hours or a few days—is usually worth far more than the replacement costs of the device and software.

5. The time the network administration team needs to replace the device and handle the loss.

6. Introduction of viruses and malware into the company's installed computer base, usually when synchronizing PC and handset in the office and on a home PC.

7. Phone fraud of various types—e.g., employees making unauthorized long-distance personal calls; this is less of a problem now because many companies accept that personal calling is going to happen, and corporate rate plans for bulk long-distance can cut the cost significantly. The co-operation of the mobile operator is required to control this.

8. The use of such devices as means of stealing company information. The "inside job" on data theft can be pulled off using a wide variety of mobile devices, from PDAs to lowly MP3 players.

Thus, the corporate mobile management task is unlike a fixed network for voice or LAN-connected servers and PCs—it is much harder. Mobile management support costs are up to 15 times as much as those for fixed data or voice networks, as the types of support required are so much more varied. These costs range from initial device configuration to negotiating company-wide mobile carrier contracts. Devices next have to be updated, accounted for and replaced, with new applications being added whenever ready and tested, possibly requiring further handset activation, end-user instruction, and so on.