IT contractors may be required to help some firms deal with the growing information security threat posed by mobile handsets.

According to one expert, the widespread use of smartphones in the businesses environment is becoming a problem from an information security perspective.

Heather Mclean, editor of Mobile Business, says that because individuals are bringing in their own phones to use at work, it is difficult for security professionals to account for all the different threats offered by iPhones, BlackBerrys and Android-powered phones.

Earlier this year, banking group Standard Chartered announced that it had adopted Apple's iPhone as its phone on choice within the business environment.

Ms Mclean suggests that this move was probably caused by a need to contain network security threats.

"Perhaps the bank thought 'if we switch over to iPhone […] we can make sure that all the handsets coming into the company are secure'," she said.