Mocana, a San Francisco based company that focuses on mobile and smart device security solutions, today announced a new software solution designed to help enterprises manage and secure mobile devices and apps on their networks.
The new solution, “Mobile App Protection”, or MAP, complements existing mobile device management (MDM) solutions that may be in place, but goes beyond app sandboxes, SDKs, containers, and hypervisor technologies that other mobile solutions typically utilize.
Mocana’s MAP enables administrators to specify fine-grained security policies for each enterprise app, on every device on their network down to the individual app and user. It also lets developers and businesses manage and secure home-grown mobile apps to be deployed on unmanaged consumer devices outside enterprise networks.
Due to the often limited security built into smartphone apps, most are unusable in an enterprise environment and are likely to violate security policies, as organizations can’t control what sensitive company information may be flowing in and out of the enterprise. Mocana’s MAP hopes to solve that problem by offering almost unlimited granularity of control over apps, in-line with organizational hierarchies and mobile app management requirements.
In short, Mocana’s MAP enables organizations to:
• Make apps “self-defending”, to protect sensitive corporate data at-rest or in-transit, meter usage intelligently, and control access for compliance purposes.
• “Wrap” individual apps with whatever security policies are desired.
• Allow admins setup multiple versions of the same app with different security policies for different users, devices and contexts.
• Lock any app with its own password-prompt.
• Block cutting-and-pasting from any app under desired conditions.
MAP can work existing mobile device management (MDM) consoles, so administrators don’t have to overhaul the way employees interact with devices.
The solution’s “Wrapping” feature enables customers to wrap mobile apps with bolstered security features and controls, even in batches of thousands, and takes just seconds to do through the MAP console. The solution is completely transparent to end-users and requires no additional software or agents to be installed on end user devices.
After a mobile app is developed, an administrator can load the app binary (APK) into the MAP system, set the desired app security policies, and MAP does the rest. No access to source code is required and protection can be added third-party apps. Once apps are “wrapped”, they can be uploaded to an enterprise AppStore or Mocana’s App Catalog for distribution to end users.
MAP can also secure consumer-facing or partner-facing apps. For example, a bank deploying a home-banking app in the Android marketplace for their consumer customers could use MAP to secure the app, even though the app will run on a device not managed by the bank.
The solution also brings powerful encryption capabilities, enabling any enterprise mobile app to encrypt data with FIPS 140-2 validated security – even if that app didn’t have any security built into it, originally. The software also helps fend off data stealing malware by blocking access to mobile device data.
“Mocana’s Mobile App Protection will enable CACI’s United States civilian government agencies, Department of Defense (DoD) and National Security mobility customers with a tailorable and Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) -based compliant solution,” said Larry Littleton, Mobility Solutions Leader for CACI.
“We think Mocana M.A.P. will spark a revolution in the way enterprises think about mobile security. Mocana’s breakthrough solution will undoubtedly help enterprises accelerate the deployment of high-impact mobile applications that leverage sensitive corporate information and services,” said Scott Snyder, president and chief strategy officer of Mobiquity.
While this realease is focused on Android, Mocana told SecurityWeek that support for Apple iOS apps is coming soon.
Privately-held Mocana launched in 2004 and counts Intel, General Electric, Cisco, Honeywell, General Dynamics, Freescale Semiconductor, Samsung, LG, Good and Siemens, among others as customers. In early September, Mocana announced that it had received a strategic investment from Intel Capital, the global investment arm of chip giant Intel. Symantec is also an investor in Mocana, and led the company’s C-round of venture financing back in May 2010.
