WHEN WORKERS bring mobile computers into the office and connect them to corporate networks, malicious code can often travel unnoticed behind firewalls and other devices designed to keep problems at bay. Quarantining these laptops when they are attached to the network is a good way of preventing these backdoor attacks.

Unfortunately, 60 percent of IT managers say they have no way to scan or quarantine mobile devices, according to a survey of 500 IT managers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and France by LANDesk Software. The most common reasons for security breaches were unauthorized mobile devices connected to networks, users disabling security settings on their laptops, and out-of-date patches and antivirus signatures. One reason for the out-of-date patches: Almost a quarter of the respondents say they leave patching up to the users.