Wireless devices, a Security Plus

It's easy to get hung up on the problems with technology. Wireless is no exception--there have been scores of articles written about all the ways that a wireless device can be used to defeat your enterprise security. The fact is, though, that increasing smart phone capabilities can actually be a boon for security. I first became aware of the possibility of using smart phones for control purposes when I heard about scientists controlling experiments and devices for space missions with their Palm devices. Now, your staff can respond to problems regardless of where they are when the problem arises. The issue for most organizations is figuring out rational rules for deploying smart phones. There are still companies that try to ban intelligent cell phones from the workplace (good luck with that), and there are those that try to ignore them (bad idea). When you realize that handheld mobile communications devices (smart phones, palm-sized tablets, ultra-mobile personal computers) are highly capable platforms that your employees will bring to the job, then it's clear that your best move is to figure out--sooner rather than later--how to take advantage of this proliferation of computing power. -Curtis