To add to that, a recent series of online workshops and surveys conducted by IT research firm Freeform Dynamics, which gathered input from both IT and business professionals, revealed that the attitude of mobile users to security is either poor or variable in 80 percent of organizations. Only one IT security professional in five indicated that users have a consistently good attitude towards mobile security.

A 2007 study commissioned in part by the National Cyber Security Alliance appears to bear out the above. The study was based on interviews with 700 mobile workers in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China, India, South Korea, and Singapore. Among the findings: 73 percent of the mobile workers surveyed said they aren't always aware of security threats and best practices when working on the go. — Nearly 30 percent of the mobile workers admitted that they "hardly ever" consider security risks and proper preventative behavior.

With an increasing number of smart mobile devices playing an ever more important role in businesses of all types, it is time that we considered some of the "stupid" things people do with their mobile phones—some of which they would never consider doing with their laptops—and what companies can (or cannot) do to protect users from themselves.

#1: Disabling the lock feature on the phone and/or not establishing a password to unlock an idled phone This is how lost mobiles become dangerous mobiles. Because they are so small and so portable, mobile phones are easier to misplace or steal than laptops. The numbers are staggering. According to a survey commissioned by Pointsec, 85,000 mobile phones and 21,000 PDAs and smartphones were left on taxis in Chicago over a 6-month period in 2007. The survey also found that more than 63,000 mobile phones and 5,800 PDAs and smartphones were left in London taxis during the same 6-month period.