Chubb Group of Insurance Companies is helping its customers manage the threat to intellectual property and other confidential information stored on smartphones and PDAs, in response to the proliferation of on such devices.

Chubb will now reimburse its cyber liability insurance customers, where permitted, as much as one-half the cost of AirPatrol Corporation products; the reimbursement will be up to the lesser of $10,000 or 10% of the policy’s annual premium.

AirPatrol products can prevent mobile devices from copying, recording or transmitting intellectual property and sensitive data; provide customized security settings to make them compliant with corporate security protocols based on location; or, in the event of loss or theft, limit their functionality and/or wipe their data.

AirPatrol products complement Chubb’s suite of cyber loss prevention solutions, which includes eRisk Hub, an Internet site that provides cyber risk management tools and information.

Chubb senior vice president and worldwide cyber liability manager said Tracey Vispoli said even more alarming is that all the 2,152 companies surveyed have at least some devices that have no password protection and cannot be remotely wiped of their data to protect their confidential business information.