How to develop a mobile device security plan

The growing use of mobile devices poses an increasing security risk for enterprises, and like any good technology management strategy it's best to have a security plan built before the threats and risks turn into security headaches. As one expert explains, today's platform phones -- devices featuring an open operating system, based on Palm, Microsoft, Symbian or Linux -- should be viewed as mini-PCs and will house the same critical, valuable enterprise data tied to desktops.

The first management step is developing an inventory on all devices viewed as a corporate asset and used to share, transmit or store company data. Then it's time to map out new mobile use policies or revisit current ones to ensure they're up to date and cover all the specific issues. Are users allowed to store non-company data such as music or games? How often are they expected to run spam and virus programs to keep security requirements up to date? Then design a response strategy if and when a device is lost or breached. What is the user expected to do and what will be the IT response effort? Experts relate that the same security approach given to desktops and laptops must be expanded to include any mobile device to ensure network and data security.

For more on mobile phone security:
- read this article at TechWorld

PLUS: How to secure those popular PDAs and data. Article