The security of enterprise information systems against malware once only involved ensuring the security of all PC clients and servers within a physically limited and often also physically secure environment such as an office.

However, the more recently growing number mobile smartphones, many of them personally owned and used for both personal and company use, anywhere and at any time has posed increasing security challenges to enterprise ICT systems managers.

For example, Morgan Stanley forecast that the number of smartphone sales worldwide would exceed the number of PC sales in 2012, while IDC forecast 270 million smartphone shipments worldwide in 2010 compared to 174 million in 2009, and by 2012, 73% of global enterprise workforces will be on mobile.

Meanwhile, a study by KRC Research and Synovate involving 6,000 smartphone and tablet users across 16 countries found 44% of them used their device for both personal and business use, while a tiny 4% use them strictly for business, while 81% admitted to using their devices to access their employer's network without its knowledge or permission, while 58% did so every day.

At the same time, 58% of those surveyed feared losing their devices and not being able to the data and information contained on them, 64% were very concerned with identity theft resulting from their use of their mobile device, and 53% regarded parental controls, especially over their children's access to explicitly sexual websites to be extremely or very important.

However, while a total of 81% regarded security either as a top priority of high priority, the study found big differences between the level of security which they want and the amount of security which they will manage themselves.

For example, only 24% of respondents frequently change the security settings on their mobile devices, 35% only do so when there's a need, 31% rarely or never change them, and 9% are unfamiliar with their device's security settings. Also, 14% said their device is not password protected.

Without going into great detail, those who were most concerned were in developing nations, while those who were least concerned were in developed nations.

All this poses a nightmare for systems administrators to protect their systems from the intrusion of malware from any one or more of this increasingly larger number of more widely dispersed target for hackers.

"It's no secret that personal mobile devices are quickly becoming the defacto means for access to orporate networks and making them one of the most valuable, but also the most vulnerable portals to sensitive personal and professional information," said Wan Ahmad Kamal, managing director, Juniper Networks Malaysia.

It was to that end that carrier-class network systems provider Juniper introduced its Junos Pulse Mobile Security Suite for mobile devices to Malaysia recently, and announced the opening of its first Juniper Global Threat and Research Center based in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.

The Mobile Security Suite currently includes anti-spam, anti-virus, personal firewall, loss and theft protection, device monitoring and control on Android, BlackBerry, Symbian OS and Windows Mobile devices.

These client apps can be downloaded for free from the enterprise's gateway server over a VPN connection. The client for the iPhone OS will be available from the Apple iPhone appstore in the second half of 2011.

This protection can also be offered as a value-added service to consumer users by cellular operators which would host the gateway and downloadable client apps.

It would allow users to wipe data and access rights from lost or stolen devices, enforce policies across all devices on the network, reduce IT overhead by better management of complexity and in the case of corporations, combine security and access in a single client.

For operators, it will let them offer security as a service, scale across all customers with a single solution, offer both managed and self-managed solutions, tailor their offerings through bundled services, protect devices from viruses, malware and spam, protect children from cyber-bullying and online predators, wipe content and contact on demand, and backup and restore devices remotely.

For example, British Telecom, AT&T and IBM are three big customers which use the Junos Pulse Mobile Security Suite. BT provides its Total Broadband Anywhere service to consumers and MobileXpress for businesses.

Meanwhile, the Global Threat and Research Center operates 24 x 7 to monitor mobile security threats to consumers and enterprises, through tracking threats to mobile devices and other security vulnerabilities, and to develop responses, including virus signatures and patches to counter them.