By Anil Chakravarthy, senior vice president, Enterprise Security Group, Symantec
Today’s enterprise IT infrastructure would likely be unrecognizable to even the most progressive of CIOs from just five years ago. In large part, the incredible advances in mobile device technology, the massive adoption of these devices and the BYOD trend these have spurred have driven this rapid evolution of enterprise IT.
The reality is that the majority of organizations are no longer standing on the sidelines simply weighing the pros and cons of various enterprise mobility strategies; they are now running plays and driving down the field. In fact, according to a recent Symantec survey, 59 percent of enterprises are now making line-of-business applications accessible from mobile devices. Increased efficiency, increased workplace effectiveness and reduced time required to accomplish tasks are just a few of the reasons.
However, IT departments tasked with keeping company networks and sensitive data safe are still struggling to get a handle on mobility. According to the same survey, mobility ranks as the leading IT risk among organizations, that includes being perceived as more risky than virtualization and even public cloud computing.
Device loss, data breach and mobile malware are some of the chief concerns. And these concerns are not unfounded. For the 12 month period leading up to the survey, the average cost of enterprise losses associated with mobility was $429,000.
To help enterprises take full advantage of mobility while also mitigating the very real risks associated with it, Symantec has built the strongest mobile security and management product portfolio available. Today, we announced significant updates to this portfolio that enhance our already industry-leading capabilities in mobile device management, mobile application management and mobile threat protection. The updates include:
Symantec Mobile Security for Android
To protect corporate-connected Android devices from app and Internet borne threats, Symantec now offers Symantec Mobile Security for Android. Mobile Security for Android is a new solution that leverages Symantec’s proprietary technology that monitors and analyzes millions of android apps available on appstores around the world. Supported by Symantec’s unparalleled Global Intelligence Network, Mobile Security for Android utilizes Symantec’s anti-malware detection technology from Norton Mobile Security, already protecting millions of Android devices.
New Symantec Mobile Management for Configuration Manager
With the completed integration of Odyssey Software, Symantec now offers three deployment options for mobile device management (MDM): a standalone MDM solution, an integrated MDM with Altiris IT Management Suite from Symantec and an integrated MDM for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager. These options enable scalable, enterprise-class MDM and unified endpoint management from two of the most widely deployed management platforms.
Secure Email for Android with Symantec Mobile Management
All Symantec Mobile Management products now integrate with NitroDesk TouchDown to provide secure mobile email services, making adoption of Android devices in the enterprise that much easier. By providing a dedicated enterprise email client for Android devices, Symantec now addresses multiple security and management issues including separation of corporate and personal data.
Native Agents Further Advance Symantec Mobile Management
Symantec Mobile Management now provides native agent based enterprise management for Windows Phone 7 devices, complementing existing support for Android and iOS. With this capability, enterprises can now provide consistent configuration security and management across the most popular platforms, deploy mobile applications and content and secure the corporate data on these devices.
Nukona App Center from Symantec
Nukona App Center from Symantec now features the ability to secure apps and data on iOS devices with FIPS 140-2 certified encryption, making Symantec one of the only vendors to offer this certification today. This capability helps ready iOS devices for use in government and other regulated industries, such as the financial and healthcare sectors, helping these organizations meet compliance requirements from corporate owned to BYOD implementations. Nukona App Center provides secure application and content management for iOS and Android devices and now supports apps created with third-party app frameworks, such as Appcelerator and PhoneGap.
Symantec PGP Viewer for Android
Symantec now offers Symantec PGP Viewer for Android to provide the ability to read encrypted emails on Android devices. Available for download from the Google Play Marketplace, PGP Viewer for Android works in conjunction with PGP Universal Server from Symantec for user enrollment services and key management to help customers deal with compliance and data breach concerns.
With these updates, Symantec now offers the most comprehensive enterprise-grade mobile security and management portfolio available.