Since smartphones (Blackberry, iPhone, Palm, etc.) are quickly becoming acceptable substitutions for laptops, at least for short-term trips, work tasks, and personal usage, more thought is being given to securing them. Beyond typical cell phone security basics (screen and keyboard lock, not giving anyone your pin, not leaving it on the front seat of your car with the doors unlocked or the windows rolled down), smartphones have some extra security features now. Blackberry, for instance, is used by many government agencies and other businesses. As such, contact information may be sensitive and even dangerous if one were to leave their Curve in a taxi. As such, all data would be wiped clean from the phone in the event that a password was incorrectly entered a certain number of times, thereby thwarting non-hackers. Good ideas smartphone security moving forward include: remote access to wipe data clean when lost or stolen, WiFi security, email attachment scanning, text/SMS/MMS scanning for malware, and downloads from the web—mobile versions or otherwise. Many corporations believe that by banning their employees from downloading non-corporate applications or using their smartphones for personal use, they’re adding a layer of protection. Alas, that layer is only as good as your weakest link and every corporation is going to have at least one employee who has less than outstanding integrity in following company policy and procedure. So that’s not so much a safety net. Another thing to consider is that smartphones may contain SD cards that have all the relative, sensitive data a thief is looking for. If they’re fast, they could take apart your phone, get the card, reassemble the phone, and be on their way before you even leave the bathroom. And it may be hours before you even realize there’s anything amiss with your phone! InformationWeek has great tips on developing smartphone policies to aid in security issues.

In a nutshell says:

“Policies are the backbone of comprehensive security, and consistency is critical, since misconfigured devices not only lead to expensive and time-consuming help desk calls, they can also open security holes on mobile devices…

1. A WLAN policy is vital because wireless access is supported by many smartphones.
2. Mobile device policies provide details on how mobile devices should be supported
3. Data classification policies group information into sensitivity categories to identify how it should be handled.
4. (Other Relevant)Security policies define the security posture for the organization and typically link to supporting documents.”