As companies increasingly adopt and integrate smartphones into enterprise networks, they are potentially putting corporate data at risk. With more businesses and individuals taking advantage of the productivity, flexibility, and data accessibility benefits offered by some of the newer mobile devices such as iPhones and Blackberries, what is happening with the “retired” devices and are they being properly disposed of?
Blancco, a Finland based provider of data erasure solutions, today introduced a product designed to eliminate the risk of inadvertent data leaks by erasing retired mobile devices that may contain sensitive business information.
Users of both personal and business smartphones often have easy access to company applications that contain sensitive information. While organizations frequently provide access to company messaging and folder systems via smartphones, they overlook the danger of data breach when the device is disposed.
The new product, “Blancco Mobile Edition,” helps IT security managers completely wipe all data from these devices and set and enforce end-of-service policy related to smartphones.
“In addition to information on SIM cards, smartphones hold gigabytes of data in internal and external memory, so organizations must treat their disposal or reassignment as they would a laptop,” said Ari Korpelainen, Vice President of Product for Blancco.
Developed for erasure of smartphones running major platforms like Symbian, RIM for Blackberry, and Microsoft, Blancco Mobile Edition consists of a Windows PC application and platform-specific smartphone clients. Designed for professional use, the product is capable of erasing up to 150 such devices per day and allows companies to connect multiple smartphones to a PC for data erasure. It securely overwrites all data, and provides detailed erasure reports for audit and regulatory purposes.
Blancco plans to expand the range of platforms supported by its Mobile Edition and plans to launch support of Android-based platforms later this year.