Mobile security is important for just about any user of a mobile device, especially for those who connect to the Internet with any kind of regularity or for those who use mobile payment systems. But for the enterprise user, the rise of the mobile workforce means an increased demand for security thanks to, among other things, proprietary data going through said devices. MobileIron and Pradeo, meanwhile, have gotten together to bring out a new breed of security specifically for the corporate user.
The combined forces of MobileIron and Pradeo mean some pretty big new options for users. MobileIron was already well known as a means to secure operating systems in a world where there was plenty of migration from one device to another. MobileIron's systems not only provide at-rest security, but also security for apps, cloud storage, and even data-in-motion, covering security for most every waterfront an enterprise user might encounter. It allows for information to be secured, while also keeping employee privacy in place, a development that's proving increasingly prized in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) doctrinal setting.
That's great by itself, but when Pradeo gets involved, suddenly even better protection becomes available. Pradeo can offer up an anti-malware protection system that allows for security checks to be conducted easily through the CheckMyApps service. Once an account is established, users can then define the target security policy desired for mobile apps. Then, CheckMyApps connects to the MobileIron server, launching a download of applications installed on the various mobile devices involved for a security check based on previously-defined parameters.
Pradeo's co-founder, Stephane Saad, commented on the new partnership: “This partnership validates our strategy and confirms our convictions: behavioral analysis of mobile apps is the solution of the future, which was missing on the market up until today, in order to efficiently protect mobile devices from threats inherent to mobile apps. This opens up access to new markets, and confirms our decision of opening an office in San Francisco.”
Indeed, it does make plenty of sense for the two to work together, and it seems to reinforce an idea that some have had about the nature of security in general. While a lot of businesses focus on perimeter security, on keeping out threats and other things that shouldn't be in the general fold, there's been less focus on internal defenses, on encrypting data and the like. If data itself is protected—not just the means to access data—it serves as a two-point defense mechanism. It's great to keep unauthorized users out of the fold—though with the number of insider threats these days, even authorized users can be a concern—but why leave data itself unprotected in the event of a break-in? If the data is also protected, there's much less risk; even if criminals get hands on data, it's useless without the necessary encryption keys.
The combination of MobileIron and Pradeo should go a long way toward making better mobile protection for enterprises, and might well also help drive more discussion toward a double-sided protection effort in which data is protected both outside and in. The better protection a business has in general, the more likely it is to carry on doing business unperturbed.
Edited by
Dominick Sorrentino