AT&T has teamed up with Juniper Networks on a new mobile security platform which it claims will better protect customer devices from security threats.
Security has become a big buzz word in mobile, with firms scrambling to add protection to their mobile services either through outright acquisitions – see Intel’s Macafee buyout – or partnerships like AT&T’s. Ed Amoroso, chief security officer at AT&T even described mobile security as “the next frontier.” Rival carrier Sprint has also recently teamed up with Macafee to provide consumers with an Android security app for their devices.
AT&T said in a press release it felt its approach differentiated it from its competitors in that its strategy will integrate both wireline and wireless security, making it attractive to enterprise clients, government and aware consumers.
“AT&T is offering enterprises the ability to remotely remove or encrypt data on mobile devices and to have this function centrally administered,” said Christine Liebert, senior analyst for Security Services at IDC. She added that this “should help businesses control what type of data can be downloaded to a smartphone or tablet, one of the biggest enterprise security risks.”
Based on Junos Pulse, the security system will also offer anti-virus and anti-malware capabilities, able to monitor and control apps.
The platform is expected to be made available later this year.
