Working in the mobile security space, I always find it fascinating to read blogs (like the Mocana DeviceLine blog) and watch videos (like the TED Security Talks) that discuss the risks of mobility. I think every company who cares about security should stay up to date on the issues enterprises need to be thinking about. Some headlines are rather eye opening, like “iMessages Aren’t So Secure After All”, “Accelerometer Allows Subtle Phone Tracking” and “iPhone Bug Allows Data Wipe To Fail.”
With headlines like these in the news, I fully believe that the market for mobile security products is going to explode, and I’m excited that SAP is in the right place at the right time. In fact, according to ABI Research mobile encryption software and services market is expected to reach a total of $230 million this year. And enterprise adoption of cloud-based services and BYOD appears to be fueling this interest.
Speaking of BYOD and cloud, this week SAP released its cloud version of its mobile app wrapping solution, SAP Mobile App Protection by Mocana, which is ideal to manage security risks in BYOD environments. The solution is hosted in the sapmobilesecure.com cloud site that is also home to our mobile device management solution, SAP Afaria. The combined cloud offering gives you an incredibly affordable way to get started adding security capabilities to your mobile apps. And since it’s in the cloud, trials are easy and can be set up in minutes.
When I say low cost, I mean it. The new service is available for 2 euros ($2.22 USD) per user per month. And if you need an MDM solution, you can add on SAP Afaria for only 1 euro ($1.11US). Peace of mind has never been so inexpensive!
The solution, which is available now, also includes a new secure mobile browser that enables you to get your company’s Intranet portals and web apps into the hands of your employees, partners and extended ecosystem (think contractors, resellers etc.), instantly. Kind a of a nice way to deal with those pesky security risks…
The secure mobile browser is based on the widely adopted Webkit rendering engine with HTML5 support and is comparable to Chrome or Safari on mobile. It enables enterprises to extend corporate intranet sites, web apps, and internet websites to iOS and Android devices — while still protecting the data through a variety of security and configuration policies. Since the focus is to protect browser and app data – data-at-rest, data-in-motion, and data-in-use – enterprises can mobilize more web data without having to manage or control the device. Even if the external devices are not enrolled through MDM, it is still possible to provide secure access to specific intranet sites to these users.
Essentially, we're now providing you with a great browser that has great security. And it gives you a way to quickly unlock your intranet data on mobile devices.
The automation of security and configuration policies make secure browsing possible without the need to build a new app and write security code. You can configure the browser to use a per App VPN tunnel, encrypt all browser data that is stored locally, and prevent someone from copying & pasting browser data to another app. Several browser configuration options are also available; admins can choose to limit the functionality of the browser by removing capabilities that can lead to data loss and leakage such as printing, emailing, searching, saving bookmarks, etc.
You can take a test drive of SAP Mobile App Protection in the cloud and try out the secure mobile browser too. Go to sapmobilesecure.com or visit SAP at the Amphion Forum in San Francisco in December (let know if you are interested in a discounted pass). Senthil Krishnapillai is keynoting and I'll be there too!
