Advanced Protection for Mobile Endpoints

From the Editors of CIOSC

Today's mobile devices contain a vast amount of sensitive and confidential information. As a result, lost phones are a real problem for companies and consumers alike, exposing both to data disclosure on multiple levels.

Protection beyond antivirus
Devices such as PDAs and Windows-based smartphones represent the new computing platform, one that is becoming standard for both businesses and consumers. But the increasing prevalence of these devices exposes them to new attack vectors that are more damaging and discreet than previous threats. Organizations need protection for mobile devices that extends beyond just antivirus.

New attacks
Mobile security solutions need to address such new attack vectors as "snoopware" and "pranking4profit." Snoopware is a term for mobile spyware that remotely places a phone into diagnostic mode and then activates the microphone to monitor conversations. Pranking4profit attacks result in theft by accessing premium mobile SMS payments.

Paths to mobile security
Research and development resources need to go into understanding and mitigating these new security threats to mobile devices. The resulting solutions are intended to offer peace of mind to businesses and consumers alike:

• Global mobile device monitoring Organizations need a state-of-the-art solution to provide mobile device monitoring and administration in conjunction with third-party Mobile Device Management Systems (MDM) in order to provide mobile device monitoring and administration.
• Mobile endpoint security  Enterprises also need software that leverages MDMs from leading vendors rolled out in its installation package, which can send down new configurations and collect log events if an administrator chooses to do so. This type of solution also enables companies to conduct loss mitigation techniques such as "wipe and kill" to protect any proprietary information on lost or stolen phones.

A comprehensive "Defense-in-Depth" solution is needed that includes network and device protection, mobile device loss mitigation and global monitoring. Such a solution can give organizations peace of mind when employees use their mobile devices and ensure that only secure devices can access the network and related services.