Symantec Corp. (NYSE: SYMC) has unveiled its enhanced mobile security strategy for consumers, enterprises and communications service providers. Symantec’s vision for mobile security is to enable these three groups to secure and manage any mobile device anytime, anywhere.
With mobile devices and operating systems becoming more powerful in their computing and processing capabilities, Piero DePaolo, director of security product marketing at Symantec, said the content that’s being created on these devices must be protected.
“There’s likely to be personal information on mobile devices. They’re also constantly talking to the mobile carrier networks and, in the case of the enterprise, they’re constantly touching the data centre,” DePaolo said. “Each one of these areas represents a potential risk to the enterprise and the consumer.”
Just as there are security risks for data on PCs, there are also risks on mobile devices, DePaolo said. These devices need to be protected because in the event that one is lost or stolen, the data residing on it could be compromised.
For the enterprise, in addition to its existing support for Windows Mobile, Symbian and BlackBerry, Symantec has announced new security and management capabilities for the Android and Apple iOS operating systems for the iPhone and iPad. The solutions geared towards enterprise mobile security and management include Symantec Mobile Management, Symantec Endpoint Protection Mobile Edition, Symantec Network Access Control Mobile Edition, VeriSign Identity Protection and PGP Mobile. These solutions enable businesses to have more visibility and control of the mobile platforms and devices that are used by employees in and out of the workplace, DePaolo said.
For the consumer customer, DePaolo said the company has its Norton Everywhere offerings, which include Norton Mobile Security for Android and Norton DNS. The idea here is to protect a user’s device so that if it’s lost or stolen, the data on the phone remains safe from harm and risks such as malware. If a phone were to be lost or stolen, DePaolo said consumers can remotely wipe the data from their phone simply by sending a text message to the device.
“This prevents strangers from using your phone and it protects the information that’s on it,” he said. “If someone were to find the phone and take the SIM card out and put their own in, the phone won’t work. Once the owner of the phone sends an SMS with a particular command to it, the phone will remotely wipe all of the data that’s on it. Even if the SIM card is taken out, the finder of the phone can’t do anything on it.”
DePaolo said Symantec will introduce some specific solutions for carrier providers beginning next month. These solutions will allow carriers to offer their enterprise customers a “more secure and enhanced experience,” he added.
Essentially what will happen is Symantec will put software on the carrier’s network that will allow them to provide a cloud-based device agnostic solution to their enter customers, DePaolo said.
“As data traffic goes to the carrier network, everything is scanned as it comes in and out to make sure it’s clean,” he said. “This will help the carrier protect their own infrastructure from threats and it will also keep traffic that’s not supposed to be coming in and out, which therefore also lightens the load.”
With the introduction of user-specific mobile security solutions, DePaolo said Symantec is enabling users to manage all platforms, whether it’s servers, desktops, or mobile devices, all from a single console.
“Mobility is the next frontier for security and it’s because these devices have the processing power of what PCs had several years ago that people need to be protected,” he said. “The amount of information on mobile devices will continue to grow and so will the value of that information. Our mobile security solution for these groups will allow our channel partners to have new opportunities and conversations with their customers across various platforms.”
Symantec’s consumer and enterprise mobile solutions are now available, while the carrier solutions will be made available next month. All solutions will be made available either through Symantec or through its global network of channel partners.
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