With 67% of workers indicating they use mobile or wireless computing and 58% of companies viewing themselves as virtual (Telework Coalition report), you have a growing headache for IT managers trying to protect corporate assets.

Fortune 500 companies tend to be most concerned with corporate data:  customer information, patient medical records, strategic plans, and on and on.  While the loss of the equipment is a problem, most IT departments are more concerned about the potential for accessing sensitive data.

Dan Rowinski from ReadwriteWeb talks about two interesting areas in this recent article: Mobile Devices, Mobile Workers – What’s an IT Manager To Do?:

-    Use of the application as a point of protection
-    Multiple layers

The applications on mobile devices are becoming a hotspot of discussion regarding security.  Manage how the application is used (and block unwanted behavior using third party security apps) and IT managers can reduce the risk of corporate data loss.

When it comes to layers of security, I’d like to add the physical layer to Dan’s list.  It’s not as exciting as some of the recently developed software, but most would agree that when a mobile device is in the wrong hands, is hard to defend against.  Layers below the physical layer are often discussed, and are expanding to include traditional virus protection, safe Web browsing applications and application download monitoring.

More solutions are on the way – we’re trying to stay one step ahead of the user community and the thieves that prey on them.