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Tag: mobile security

  • Biometric Security is Coming to the Mobile Workplace

    With the workplace becoming more mobile and bring-you-own-device programs beginning to become popular, more businesses than ever now need potent mobile security. While the mobile security software industry will certainly become a major segment of the business-to-business tech market in the coming years, mobile hardware security will also become a billion-dollar market by the end of 2014. This new market will be led by a variety of solutions, including features such as the latest iPhone’s fingerprint scanner.

    Market research firm Gartner today issued a report showing that the use of biometric mobile authentication will rise significantly in the coming years. The firm estimates that only 5% of the organizations it surveyed are using the technology currently. By 2016, however, Gartner predicts that 30% of these organizations will be using mobile biometric authentication.

    Though biometric security might seem like flashy gadgetry, Gartner believes the technology will provide a compromise between individual user expectations and the needs of business security. Though passwords are easy enough to implement on mobile devices, the average use case for smartphones might mean dozens of password entries throughout just one day.

    “Mobile users staunchly resist authentication methods that were tolerable on PCs and are still needed to bolster secure access on mobile devices,” said Ant Allan, research VP at Gartner. “Security leaders must manage users’ expectations and take into account the user experience without comprising security.”

    In addition to biometric hardware security, Gartner recommends that businesses do still use passwords heavily. This is especially true of corporate data which could be accessed through mobile accounts, such as through email. Such a two-tier security scheme could help protect sensitive data more efficiently than remote data wipes, which can often be unreliable.

    Image via Apple

  • Mobile Malware to Lead Security Concerns in 2014

    As the tech industry has shifted to become more mobile in recent years, cybercrime has also quickly adjusted to the times. McAfee Labs is now predicting that mobile exploits will be where the most growth of the security industry will be focused in 2014.

    McAfee is predicting that mobile malware in particular will drive growth for the security industry next year. Mobile attacks could include malicious software that steals data from legitimate apps or software that is installed via NFC. The company bases its prediction on what it has seen this year, including a 33% increase in Android malware samples during the second half of 2013. In contrast, McAfee has not seen an increase in the amount of new PC malware.

    Social networks will also be a up-and-coming security concern in 2014. According to McAfee so-called “social attacks” will commonplace by the end of next year. Attacks through social networks are expected to target user data, which could be valuable in the case of certain persons.

    “With target audiences so large, financing mechanisms so convenient, and cyber-talent so accessible, robust innovation in criminal technology and tactics will continue its surge forward in 2014,” said Vincent Weafer, SVP of McAfee Labs. “The activity in mobile and social is representative of an increasing ‘black hat’ focus on the fastest growing and most digitally active consumer audiences, in which personal information is almost as attractive as banking passwords. The emergence and evolution of advanced evasion techniques represents a new enterprise security battlefront, where the hacker’s deep knowledge of architectures and common security tactics enable attacks that are very hard to uncover.”

  • Mobile Encryption Market to Hit $230 Million This Year

    The rush of the quickly growing mobile device industry has made it easier than ever for people to share their lives in real-time. Unfortunately, this has led to privacy and security concerns that have not yet been fully resolved. As businesses prepare to follow the industry with smartphone and tablet enterprise integration, market watchers now predict that the mobile security industry is poised for explosive growth in the coming years.

    However, it seems that the mobile security industry is already growing ad a rapid pace. Market research firm ABI Research today released its prediction for this year’s mobile security market. Mobile encryption alone, including both software and services, is expected by the firm to hit $230 million by the end of 2013. This is a large portion of the $560 million the firm predicted this year for the total mobile security management industry back in August.

    In its report, ABI calls out device manufacturers and mobile providers for their slow adoption of security software. The firm predicts that much of the segment’s growth will be pushed by security and mobile device management companies in the short-term.

    Business will have to evaluate their mobile security strategies soon, as the benefits of mobile, connected workforces turn into essential competitive strategies. Employees bringing their own personal device to work also requires a security strategy. ABI analysts believe that mobile authentication and encryption services will become a major portion of these strategies, emphasizing “effective key management.” The firm predicts that successful mobile encryption services will offer both resource integration and mobile device management services in one package.

  • Mobile Security Industry to Grow Fast, Soon

    As more of society’s computing tasks move to mobile platforms, businesses now face new security challenges. As the security industry steps up to meet these challenges, the market for mobile security will be a growth segment for years to come.

    Analyst firm ABI Research this week made its predictions for the growth of mobile security management over the next two years. It predicts that the segment will hit $1 billion by the year 2015, up from a predicted $560 million by the end of this year. The firm cautions, though, that the growth of mobile security management will be explosive but short-lived. This is because ABI also predicts that security management will soon be a basic requirement of enterprise mobility management solutions, leaving little room for new players to bring in different offerings.

    “While MDM will continue to provide the largest share of revenues, growth rates from other sectors, and, in particular, security and content management, will increasingly account for a much larger portion of the market,” said Michela Menting, a senior analyst at ABI’s cyber security division.

    The growth of mobile security will coincide with an industry-wide security market boom predicted for the next few years. Samsung just recently announced Knox, an enterprise security suite that focuses on the bring your own device segment, allowing employers to lock down employees’ devices. The IT security market is predicted to rise to $30 billion worldwide by the year 2017.

    (Image courtesy Thinkstock)

  • SonicWall Locks Up Your Mobile Workforce

    SonicWall Locks Up Your Mobile Workforce

    SonicWall, Inc. has released Mobile Connect Client app for Google Android tablets and smartphones. It provides top-notch network-level access to academic, corporate, and government resources over encrypted SSL VPN connections. Once it is installed on your device, users gain access to a variety of SonicWall products.

    The purpose for these products is simple. While mobile devices may allow organization’s employees to stay connected and productive in an increasingly flexible way, they can represent a security risk when operating in uncontrolled networks. SonicWall fights against information breaches and leaking of private sensitive data. The best thing about the new Mobile Connect is that it is available for free.

    Patrick Sweeney, vice president of product management and corporate marketing at SonicWALL comments on the product:

    “Android tablets and smartphones are commonplace tools for today’s mobile workforce. Companies must have tools to manage security for those devices both inside and outside the corporate network,”

    “With Mobile Connect, enterprise, educational and government institutions can maintain stringent security standards while their employees travel outside of the protected perimeter, thus enabling greater workforce productivity.”

    Here’s some technical jargon about how Mobile Connect secures your devices:

    “A key feature of the Mobile Connect app is End Point Control™ (EPC), available only on the SonicWALL Aventail E-Class SRA Series. For Android-based smartphones and tablets running Mobile Connect, EPC identifies specific device attributes and enforces they are met before allowing the device to connect to the network. EPC can also determine if an Android device has been jailbroken, thereby removing Android’s built-in security enforcement, so that connections from compromised devices may be rejected or quarantined.”

    This may be the solution your organization has been looking for. The price is right so it’s well worth checking out. Thanks SonicWall.