Enterprises, businesses, and consumers all rank data security as an important concern. While desktop and internet security solutions may not be perfect, they are well known. But when it comes to security for mobile devices, that's another matter.

For instance, Gartner is reporting that while mobile users are implementing more wireless technologies in their daily lives, most of these folks aren't taking the proper precautions to ensure that their data is safe

During its recent Wireless & Mobile Summit in Chicago, Gartner analysts identified the top "on-the-run" security exposure to be when a user accidentally loses his mobile device, which can often be full of confidential enterprise data, leading to serious case of identity theft. The problem is that 90% of mobile devices lack the protection to ward off hackers.

"Wireless mobility is the greatest change to occur in corporate data collection and distribution in the past decade," said John Girard, research VP at Gartner. "However, with this change comes new threats. The solution for enterprises is to institute sound management policies to protect mobile information assets and contain costs."

At the conference, Gartner outlined tactics to improve wireless security, including moving all PDAs and phones into the PC support group, installing PDA firewalls, implementing cost controls and purchasing mobile management tools.

Gartner isn't the only one taking up the mantle of mobile scurity. At the 3GSM World Congress earlier this month, for example, GSM Association and leading mobile phone vendors announced an agreement to help reduce the theft of mobile phones by establishing a series of measures to enhance the integrity of handset identities.

In addition, the latest version of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile platform, announced this week at the company's Mobile Developer Conference, includes WPA or Wi-Fi Protected Access, a security standard created by the Wi-Fi Alliance to make wireless access more secure. And the most recent addition of the Palm OS, Cobalt, introduced last month at PalmSource's own conference for developers, will include built-in encryption, authentication and authorization frameworks for securing applications such as enterprise and e-commerce solutions, browsers, wireless email and connections to corporate networks such as a VPN. The extensible structure also offers software developers industry-standard security services and cryptography.

For more on mobile security, read our recent article "Top 10 Items You Shouldn't Allow on Employee PDAs (and what do about it)."