Mobile Security

Category: Mobile Security

Mobile commerce may suffer trust issues in the future

Dan Gendro | February 26, 2013

Study highlights concerns consumers have in mobile commerce and elsewhere

MEF, a global community focused on improving mobile commerce, has released a new study concerning online privacy. Over the past few years, privacy has become a major concern for consumers all over the world. With companies, social networks, and even mobile applications, sharing people’s personal information with advertisers, many consumers have become weary of sharing any personal data through applications, especially those concerning mobile commerce. The MEF study highlights some of the concerns that consumers have regarding how their information is used.

Consumers show concern in what information is being collected from them through applications

According to the study, which is called the Global Privacy Report, approximately 37% of consumers are comfortable with sharing their personal information with a mobile application. The study draws upon information collected from ten countries, all of which have strong representation in the mobile space. MEF analysts suggest that many consumers are disinterested in sharing their information with applications because of concerns over security and how this information is being used.

How information is being used is a top issue among consumers

The study shows that 70% of consumers believe it is important to know how their information is being used, and what kind of information is being gathered through mobile applications. Mobile commerce applications, in particular, are of high concern to consumers because of the their use of financial information. While this information is not traded, other personal information is often made available to advertisers and many consumers have expressed concerns that the availability of this information makes it a target for hackers and other malicious parties.

Mobile commerce may suffer from gaps in mobile security

While consumers show a strong concern with how their information is being used and what information mobile applications are collecting, only 18% of consumers lack confidence in the security of their information. The study suggests that there are significant gaps in the realm of mobile security, however, especially when it comes to mobile commerce. If these gaps are continually exploited, the trust that consumers have in their mobile security may wane significantly.

Samsung introduces new mobile technology suite for enterprises

JT | February 26, 2013

Samsung sets sight on enterprises with new mobile technology

Samsung became the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer last year with the launch of the Galaxy S III. The company was able to dethrone Apple after years of competition and is now beginning to set its sights on BlackBerry, the company that has dominated the enterprise market for several years. BlackBerry’s smartphones are favored among business professionals because of the features they offer, but Samsung believes that it can offer enterprises much better tools that can synergize the personal and professional profiles in a single mobile device.

Samsung unveils Knox

Samsung has revealed an new enterprise initiative called Knox. The initiative is designed to allow users to make use of their personal and professional profiles on a single mobile devices, rather than keeping track of these profiles on various devices. This is similar to BlackBerry Balance, which is one of the major features of the recently launched BlackBerry 10 operating system. The BlackBerry Balance separates personal items, such as mobile games and entertainment applications, and corporate applications. This feature allows corporate applications to remain secure, free from the data collection methods that are common in apps like mobile games.

Knox will help keep corporate data secure

Samsung’s Knox is still in its early stages of development, but Samsung believes that the service will be well received in the world of enterprise. The system will help keep corporate applications secure by separating them from the rest of a smartphone’s operating system. These applications will still function as they are meant to, but the mobile device itself will have limited access to the information being used with these applications. Applications that are more personal will not be able to interact with corporate applications on any level.

Knox may be an adequate alternative to BlackBerry

Samsung believes that Knox will help provide more peace of mind for enterprises making use of mobile devices. Knox is expected to help address some mobile security issues that exist with the Android operating system. These issues have lead many enterprises to favor BlackBerry in the past, but that may change when Knox is fully actualized in the market at some point in the coming years.