Good Technology Launches IAM Platform, New Solution To Secure Email on iOS Devices

Good Technology launched its identity and access management platform with a two-factor authentication product to secure corporate email on the iPhone, the company said Tuesday.

Good Vault adds two-factor authentication and S/MIME security to the company’s Good for Enterprise email application, Nicko van Someren, CTO of Good Technology, told SecurityWeek. With more and more employees bringing mobile devices into the enterprise and using personal devices to access sensitive applications such as email, organizations have to worry about security threats and compliance requirements.

IT managers can ensure that employees are accessing mail securely and that data downloaded onto the mobile device is protected, Someren said. The app can also encrypt messages sent from the mobile device in order to ensure message integrity.

With Good Vault, employees will be able to use the same ID card they use to enter their office or access their laptops to also login to email from their mobile devices, Someren said.

Enterprises interested in Good Vault will have already deployed a hardware-based secure element capable of storing user credentials and keys, such as a smart card or micro SD card.

Good Vault will also require employees to outfit their mobile devices with a slim sleeve or reader to be able to read the data on the smart card. If the organization uses micro SD card to store sensitive credential information, then it needs to also be using ActivIdentity Credential Management System to issue and manage the microSD cards, the company said. Administrators configure Good Vault using a Web-based administrator console.

Good Vault is available for immediate download from the iTunes App Store. Users must already have a licensed copy of the Good for Enterprise mail app and a Good Vault license in order to activate the app. At launch, support for Good Vault is limited to just the iPhone 4 and 4S, the company said. Good Vault will not support the iPad at launch.

Good Vault is the first product built on the new Good Trust identity and access management platform, also unveiled Tuesday at the Gartner Identity and Access Management Summit in Las Vegas. With Good Trust, IT managers can add advanced access control capabilities such as strong authentication, single sign-on, context-based policies, and identity federation to mobile devices and applications, Someren said. The platform provides IT managers with essential workflows, developer tools, and APIs to centrally manage user provisioning, access permissions, and application life cycle management with full audit control.

The Good Trust framework can support mobile authentication technologies, such as microSD, smart cards, one time passwords, and biometrics.

“At Good, we believe that mobile two-factor authentication is on track to become the dominant force in the IAM market and we intend to lead the pack in its adoption with our Good Trust platform and the Good Vault solution,” Michael W. Mahan, senior vice president of special markets for Good Technology and the leader of the Good Trust product line, said in a statement.

With Good Trust, enterprises will be able to meet compliance requirements by restricting access to authorized users, even if they are on mobile devices, secure mobile devices, and improve IT efficiency when managing mobile apps. Developers also have access to the Good Dynamics app security platform and Good Trust APIs to easily add identity and access management features into mobile apps.