Advanced Protection for Mobile Endpoints

By Jennifer Martinez

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. To better protect these mobile endpoints, organizations need to consider measures to protect these devices from the growing number of threats.

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.

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

Paths to mobile security
Research is now being done to understand and mitigate 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  A state-of-the-art solution will provide mobile device monitoring and administration.
• Mobile endpoint security software This type of software leverages mobile device management systems from leading vendors to roll out its installation package, send down new configurations and collect log events if an administrator chooses to do so. Suites now available also enable companies to conduct loss mitigation techniques such as "wipe and kill" to protect any proprietary information on lost or stolen phones.

CIOs should look for offerings that provide a comprehensive "Defense-in-Depth" solution that includes network and device protection, mobile device loss mitigation and global monitoring. It's one more way that you can have confidence in your organization's security in a connected world.

Jennifer Martinez is a freelance writer who specializes in security and IT topics.