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(PRIORITIES2008) mobile security
Dittemore's organization wrapped up a laptop encryption project last year and is looking at how to secure smart phones. About 100 doctors use smart phones for secure email and to access patient data via SSL encrypted Web services. Some executives use the devices to access their email and calendar.
Securing mobile phones and PDAs is also a 2008 priority for Jack Henry & Associates, a provider of technology and data processing services for financial institutions. "We're moving to full-disk encryption," says John Hill, a manager in the firm's network and devices division.
The company tried to implement encryption in 2006, but ran into resistance from some employees who complained it made their devices run slower. To mitigate that problem, the firm bought faster PDAs and is moving forward with the project. "We're getting full support from our CEO, who has mandated that all mobile devices containing any customer or company information need to be encrypted."
Jonathan Gossels, president and CEO of security consulting firm SystemExperts, says PDAs and other devices have become powerful computing systems that businesses shouldn't take lightly.
"We've tried to get them to understand that these are real computers. Think about the risks you have with computers in your offices; be as concerned with these handhelds and go a level beyond that because they're so easily lost or stolen," he says.
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