Security is still one of the top concerns for companies considering incorporating an enterprise mobility strategy and granting field-workers access to important company information from mobile devices.
In light of this concern, Sybase has introduced more stringent security measures into its offerings, says Shari Freeman, director of engineering and product management at Sybase iAnywhere. "Our focus is now on mobile devices and the security and management of these devices in an ever increasing mobile environment."
The greatest concerns, notes Kathleen Schaub, Sybase VP of product marketing and management, are around securing data on mobile devices and securing physical access to those devices in an effort to curb critical company data being accessed by unauthorised persons.
"In terms of the management of these devices, we have incorporated software updates into our Information Anywhere laptop security solution. These are, through enforced settings, automatically installed on any mobile device whenever that device is logged on to the network, be it by any form of connection," says Schaub.
Sybase says this enables the IT department and administrators to ensure the latest security patches, necessary software and applications are immediately disseminated across all mobile devices, across the company.
Boot security
The company has also incorporated full disk encryption to "seal" laptops in the field, where the entire laptop hard-drive is encrypted and can only be decrypted by the user with the correct passwords. "For extra protection, the password must be entered before the PC can be booted, thus giving yet another layer of security and authentication," adds Freeman.
Schaub says companies' concerns are high when it comes to security within the mobile space, as protecting mobile devices is naturally more difficult than stationary desktop workstations in one location. "In a mobile environment, anyone can have access to your mobile device."
A further security measure Sybase offers its customers is the management of shareable removable media devices, which is another way data often gets stolen.
"With the Information Anywhere Laptop Security solution we have added the ability to encrypt data on USB and IEEE 1394 (Firewire) devices, with options for sharing data on the device with other users in a work group. You can select who you want to share information with, give them the password and a small downloadable reader programme and they can then access the necessary information," says Freeman.
Retirement security
Decommissioning a mobile device and securing the data on that device is yet another point of concern for organisations. Sybase iAnywhere, however, also offers a simple administrative decommission process that securely decommissions retired laptops in one step and, according to the company, eliminates the need for third-party tools or services.
Says Freeman: "The administrator easily deletes all encryption keys and the information on the laptop is rendered useless.
"All laptop security is protected by two-factor authentication. In addition to strong password authentication, the solution also has the ability to support smart card and token-based authentication products. All of these can easily and remotely track the status of a security installation and encryption for the enterprise," she concludes.
Related stories:
Thieves nabbed at ITWeb conference
Cost-effective data protection tool available
Network security market growing at alarming rate
Share
