Mobile security for Android boosted by Samsung Knox

mobile security policies

mobile securityThe handset maker is looking to enhance the management and safety of the data in their devices.

A growing number of smartphone and tablet makers are each concentrating their efforts on the mobile security and data and apps management that is provided through the use of their devices.

It has just been discovered that Samsung is making a massive play in this arena.

New improvements to mobile security could prove to be critical to the success of several parts of the smartphone ecosystem as the devices are used for a growing number of increasingly sensitive purposes. For instance, mobile payments have yet to truly take off, and one of the primary barriers is that consumers are concerned about the safety of their private data.

While BlackBerry has already made considerable mobile security moves with the BES 10, others are now joining the game.

BlackBerry’s latest release includes some of the most cutting edge mobile security efforts that are currently available on the consumer market. This includes techniques of Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) such as Mobile Application Management (MAM), as well as a separation of business and personal user personalities.

Samsung has now announced that it is releasing similar mobile security capabilities for its own smartphones, which it has called Samsung Knox. As this is not an acronym, it can only be assumed that this is a nod to the highly secure Fort Knox of the U.S. Treasury Department.

Knox appears to have more mobile security to offer than only MAM and the partitioning between personal and business. That said, those remain the features that are receiving the greatest amount of attention, so far.

The mobile security MAM from Samsung Knox compiles management hooks right into the program. When it comes to third party program, it takes a different route by installing a type of “wrapper” program around it so that management can still be provided. This makes it possible for administrators to set the program’s usage policies. For example, it can be decided that certain locations should be designated for reading or writing, that it will be allowed only SSL based communications, or that unencrypted data cannot be copied onto the clipboard. One of the common features of the MAM is the capability for generating a custom VPN session exclusively for that one program instance.

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