Forty-three percent – that's how many IT executives are worried about the security implications of supporting smartphones inside their enterprise, according to a survey by Forrester Research. CIOs are right to be concerned; mobile technology comes with more than its share of security risks.

Mobile devices are an easy target. Phones disappear frequently. Any sensitive data that resides on a lost device is accessible to whoever finds it.

As more employees bring their own devices to the office, IT has a new headache: Departments need to keep close account of these devices, who is using them and for what purpose. One Sybase customer was shocked to find more than 1,000 unauthorized devices on its network during an audit. Such unauthorized devices are a potential source of viruses or other malware and must be identified. And there are other issues as well: Virtual offices and telecommuting arrangements make it difficult to implement user group policies, robust firewalls, user authentication and password updates.

Making Mobile Security Priority No. 1
In their rush to address the incredible demand for mobile applications, many organizations will struggle to ramp up security in kind.  Companies can slow down their mobile adoption – but they risk losing loyal customers and ceding their position in the competitive marketplace. For those who would rather not pay such a dear price, the trick will be finding just the right balance: maintaining the integrity and security of the network without creating irritating hurdles for end users.

A mobile governance policy is a good place to start. This policy codifies rules and regulations, such as how often users must change their passwords and what software must be installed on each device. It provides the framework to secure both network traffic and sensitive internal data.

But governance does nothing to abate the growing burden on resource-challenged IT departments to administer mobile devices. The mobile security workload typically includes the following:

• On-device password and data encryption
• Remote device kill and data deletion for lost or stolen devices
• Antivirus and firewall protection for handheld devices, including call filtering
• Remote delivery of security patch updates
• Over-the-air encryption

The Merits of a Platform Approach
Fortunately, a proven mobility management platform excels at solving these problems without overtaxing IT resources – even at companies experiencing fast smartphone growth. Neither traditional software management suites nor narrow point solutions are up to the task. They lack support for either a broad variety of mobile devices or rich features such as data segmentation that help organizations tackle the true pain points of mobile computing. Industry analysts support this view. The right mobile management platform should ensure regulatory compliance and meet the highest standards of security governance while still giving enough flexibility to employees to be productive with their smartphones and tablets. This comprehensive, balanced approach is exactly what most mobile enterprises need.

As vice president of engineering for Sybase, an SAP Company, product technology operations, Joe Owen is responsible for product strategy and R&D efforts for the company's mobile management and security products.