MWC: Symantec improves mobile data security

data security

At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Symantec announced advances in its enterprise mobility strategy to secure mobile data and enable business productivity.

Symantec has announced significant advances in core areas of its enterprise mobility strategy across Android, iOS and Windows Phone 7 platforms. These advances help customers secure mobile data and enable business productivity across both corporate managed and personally owned unmanaged devices by providing cross-platform, multi-application protection.

Symantec is empowering enterprises to foster mobile productivity by enabling new business models that rely on diverse mobile devices and innovative mobile applications. Symantec’s comprehensive data and application security address enterprises’ concerns by applying corporate security policies uniformly on all mobile devices, endpoints and applications. Symantec’s modular enterprise mobility platform will allow these services to be delivered via on-prem and SaaS models, as part of existing security and management solutions, to drive operational efficiencies and lower total-cost-of-ownership.

‚Our recent State of Mobility Survey highlighted that 59 percent of enterprises are making line-of-business applications accessible from mobile devices, representing a dramatic shift in the nature of mobility from an email extension to a core business enabler,‚ said CJ Desai, senior vice president, Endpoint and Mobility Group, Symantec.

‚Symantec is at the forefront of enabling enterprise productivity. With these new enhancements to our mobile portfolio, we will offer the most comprehensive solution set for securing mobile devices, apps and data. With Symantec, enterprises no longer have to choose between productivity and security. We are changing the game by allowing them to confidently achieve both.‚

This announcement advances Symantec’s enterprise mobility strategy by enhancing capabilities in device management, threat protection and enterprise integration.

Device management

For enterprises that need a solution to centrally secure and manage mobile devices and applications, Mobile Management includes security policy management and application management for Android, iOS and Windows Mobile 7 platforms.

From a unified management perspective, Symantec is announcing Mobile Management for Microsoft SCCM will be generally available in March. This, in addition to existing integration with Altiris IT Management Suite from Symantec, will make Mobile Management available for two of the most widely deployed management platforms. This enhanced support gives enterprises the visibility and control required to confidently embrace the proliferation of mobile devices.

According to Symantec’s State of Mobility Survey, 67 percent of enterprises are concerned with malware attacks spreading from mobile devices to internal networks. With multiple app stores and unchecked applications, Android is a frequent target for malware, raising the possibility of data theft and browser-based phishing attacks. In response, Symantec plans to bring its anti-malware technology and global intelligence network capabilities to the Android platform with Mobile Security for Android.

With the release of Mobile Security for Android, Symantec will help prevent rogue applications from stealing corporate and personal data and will enable safe web browsing. This solution will be generally available in late summer 2012.

Enterprise integration

According to the same survey, 65 percent of enterprises cited data loss as one of their top concerns for mobile adoption. Symantec addresses the problem with Data Loss Prevention for Tablets, which is now generally available. Available first for the iPad, this solution monitors and controls the transmission of confidential data by applying industry leading fingerprinting and advanced machine learning technologies. Combined with Symantec’s recent release of Mobile Management, Data Loss Prevention for Tablets provides the industry’s strongest closed-loop solution to enable organisations to support business productivity and personal use concurrently across corporate and personal email, web communications and native applications.

No enterprise data is secure without proper access and authentication policies in place. To enable strong user and device authentication to enterprise networks and applications, Mobile Management is integrated with the new Managed PKI Service v8.3, which includes certificate management enhancements for iOS devices. This simplified integration automates the steps involved in extending PKI systems to mobile devices for user identity and authorisation, speeding the time to value with a user friendly, transparent process.

With 31 percent of IT personnel currently dealing with mobile related initiatives, driving efficiency and lower total-cost-of-ownership is paramount. To deliver a broader array of choices for enterprises to manage their mobile deployments, Symantec will be making its enterprise mobility platform available.

This console-agnostic platform will help Symantec extend its reach in the protection of mobile users by allowing enterprises, partners and telcos to quickly and efficiently integrate their offerings with a common web services and agent architecture.

In combination with Symantec O3 ‚ the company’s cloud information protection platform ‚ the Symantec enterprise mobility platform will enable secure usage of cloud apps from mobile devices. This combination provides layered information security and information management controls on the device and in the cloud to secure native applications as well as SaaS use-cases. With support for a wide variety of cloud apps and services and integration with wide variety of identity sources, Symantec enables innovative business models created in the confluence of cloud and mobile technologies.

Robert Kalinofski, Principal Consultant, Carbn Security says: ‚Securing tablets is a hot issue. It’s where the workforce is going, and it is critical to control the information that is leaving from these devices. Symantec Data Loss Prevention for Tablets does just that, it ensures the confidential data on tablets will be protected and helps to balance the need for security with productivity of users.‚

Leif-Olof Wallin, Research VP, Gartner says: ‚The overwhelming demands of consumerisation and access to information from mobile devices is leaving enterprise IT departments to struggle with the requirements of device choice, the new era of mobile apps and the blurred lines between corporate and personal data. Organisations must look to secure the complete ecosystem: devices, apps and data. Doing that in an efficient manner that enables business productivity will be key to success.‚

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