McAfee Shares its Vision for Securing Mobile Devices in Corporate Environments
McAfee unveiled a three-pronged approach to mobile security today with a new set of products.
According to McAfee, new malware targeting Android devices jumped 76 percent last quarter, shining a light on the importance of securing mobile devices, applications and data. Due to the consumerization of IT, enterprises are dealing with supporting a diverse ecosystem of mobile platforms, from Android to iOS to BlackBerry.
“Mobile device adoption is exploding, and unfortunately, so are the threats targeting mobile platforms. If McAfee’s historical experience analyzing threats on numerous platforms is any indication, we believe that the emerging mobile malware we are seeing today is just the beginning,” said John Dasher, senior director for mobile security at McAfee, in a statement.
• Protecting Mobile Devices — With data and device protection for today’s most popular mobile devices, McAfee provides a complete security solution that embraces mobile device diversity. To meet this challenge, McAfee offers the following:
o McAfee Enterprise Mobility Management (McAfee EMM) software brings the same level of security and control to mobile devices — including employee-owned smartphones and tablets — that IT applies to laptops and desktops.
o Anti-malware protection from the growing number of threats targeted at mobile devices through McAfee VirusScan Mobile software. o Web protection that alerts mobile devices users when they are accessing malicious sites, such as phishing sites is offered through McAfee SiteAdvisor technology.
• Protecting Mobile Data — Protecting sensitive corporate data is a requirement. McAfee can ensure that only those devices with encryption access the corporate network and data. McAfee offers:
o Data protection when using the McAfee EMM product, including the prevention of data leakage from Jailbroken and Rooted devices.
o Anti-theft and loss features allow for remote backup, lock and wipe to make sure that sensitive data does not get into the wrong hands.
o Additional data protection technologies are under development including the separation of business and personal data.
• Protecting Mobile Apps – Beyond traditional email and web, mobile apps are readily available and proliferating by the millions. McAfee sees this as potentially the biggest threat vector of the future.
o McAfee has released in beta McAfee App Alert software to inform users how apps access their personal data.
o McAfee is expanding the scope of its Global Threat Intelligence to include mobile app reputation services to identify apps that are malicious or put privacy at risk.
o McAfee also has app-scanning technologies that have been successfully deployed in app stores, adding a crucial layer of application security that helps vendors provide customers a safe app experience.
“It’s a whole new world, and a challenge for IT to craft security policies that make sense while updating their infrastructure,” Dasher said. “At McAfee, we’re working hard to create new technology to help enterprises address the challenge of securely incorporating these new mobile platforms into their environment.”
Read More on Mobile Security in SecurityWeek’s Mobile Security Section
