Samsung has introduced the next-generation of its secure mobile platform solution, KNOX.
KNOX 2.0, said JK Shin, president and CEO of the IT and Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics, offers enhanced security and introduces features aimed at addressing BYOD and enterprise mobility challenges.
At the launch, in Barcelona last night, Shin said since KNOX became commercially available in October last year, Samsung has sold more than 25 million KNOX-enabled devices and has over a million active users today. He said this means nearly 7 000 KNOX-enabled devices are being activated on a daily basis.
Shin said version 2.0 debuts some "core platform security improvements" to protect devices from kernel to apps. "Firstly, TrustZone-Protected Certificate Management, a feature that generates and maintains client certificates inside Trustzone with extra support for industry standards."
Also new, KNOX Key Store is a feature that generates and maintains encryption keys inside the TrustZone protected environment. "This allows third-parties to make use of encryption for security-sensitive applications and ensures encrypted data is protected should the system be compromised."
Another feature, Real-Time Protection for System Integrity, offers real-time monitoring that detects and prevents any modifications to the kernel code, critical kernel data and system partition, that haven't been authorised.
"We listened to our customers, and one thing they have been asking for is two-factor authentication," he added. "With this in mind, KNOX 2.0 now requires both a password and fingerprint verification to authenticate."
He said users will enjoy an improved experience too, and the new version includes support for most Android apps from the Google Play Store, meaning there is no need for users to have to go through the wrapping process for third-party apps.
"In addition, KNOX 2.0 supports SE Android policy configurations for third-party containers, so that they enjoy the same level of HW-based protection as the KNOX container receives. This ultimately provides a more flexible approach to enterprise BYOD strategies."
Shin said KNOX 2.0 also now supports split billing through its "dual APN capability that can be used to charge the data traffic usage of enterprise applications from that of personal applications". An access point name - APN - is the name of a gateway between a GPRS, 3G or 4G mobile network and another computer network.
By giving another APN to the enterprise container's data traffic, telecom carriers have the ability to separately bill customers for personal and enterprise uses. In this way, one of the largest obstacles to the adoption of BYOD programmes that enable employees to use their personal mobile devices for work is removed.
KNOX 2.0 will be commercially available in Q2 of this year, and previous generation KNOX users can upgrade once they have upgraded their OS to KitKat.
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