Mobile Security

Category: Mobile Security

Fixmo receives support from Samsung Ventures

Stephen | January 24, 2013

Samsung Ventures announces backing of Fixmo

Samsung Ventures, the investment branch of the massive South Korean Samsung Group, has thrown its support behind Fixmo, a developer of mobile software. Fixmo has a very acute focus on the realm of mobile security. The company typically caters to enterprises and government clients, offering a variety of risk management and security tools for mobile devices. Samsung Ventures believes that the company holds a great deal of promise, especially as the world becomes more reliant on mobile technology.

Mobile security continues to attract attention of large companies

Mobile security has become a very serious issue across a variety of industries and channels. Consumers are becoming more reliant on their smart phones and tablets to function in their daily lives. Phenomena like mobile commerce are great examples as to how mobile technology is beginning to play a more important role throughout the world. Because consumers have a tendency to share or store very valuable information on their smart phones and tablets, these devices have also become prime targets for hackers and anyone interested in exploiting this information for some form of gain.

Investments will help Fixmo with research and development

Fixmo notes that the investments coming from Samsung Ventures will help the company continue its research and development projects. Samsung has been working to get more involved in the mobile security space recently, especially where it concerns enterprise. The company is not the only one showing interest in Fixmo, however. Last year, Motorola also partnered with Fixmo in order to get more involved with mobile security and help make progress in this particular field.

Samsung may be looking to compete with RIM for enterprises

Samsung may be strategically positioning itself to compete with one of the largest companies that has made several breakthroughs in the field of mobile security: Research In Motion (RIM). RIM is gearing up for the release of the BlackBerry 10, which is expected to be one of the most popular mobile devices for enterprises around the world. The BlackBerry platform has long catered to enterprise clients and offers a variety of security features that make it more viable than mobile devices coming from other companies.

Metaforic identifies threat of Android applications

JT | January 22, 2013

100% of Android applications compromised, according to Metaforic

All of the most popular mobile applications for the Android platform may have been hacked, according to Infosecurity, an online resource for security information. This possibility is being echoed by Metaforic, a leading mobile security provider, which suggests that the likelihood of a person downloading a compromised application has risen exponentially over the past few years. Metaforic notes that as more compromised applications become available, they could create a serious security threat against major enterprises and even government agencies.

Lack of standards and wide variety of development practices seed potential threats

Application development has changed over the years and developers have adopted myriad practices in order to conduct their tasks. Because there are so many ways to create a mobile application, there is limited standardization that exists to protect the integrity of these applications and ensure they live up to a certain expectation. Metaforic notes that most, if not all, applications becoming compromised because of app repackaging. Repackaging refers to programs that are part of applications that automatically install software across a wide variety of platforms.

Few consumers take steps to protect their mobile devices

Another issue that is causing significant problems in the mobile security sector is the fact that very few people actually protect their smart phones and mobile devices. The vast majority of consumers do not have any kind of security software installed on their devices, leaving them at risk of having their device infected by malware or exploited in other ways. While most mobile devices have some form of internal security, third party software is often needed to completely ensure the security of a smart phone or tablet.

Metaforic advises consumers to find ways to protect themselves

Many of the compromised applications available for the Android platform are likely dormant in some fashion. That is to say that the threats associated with these applications have not yet been activated. Indeed, these threats may never actually take form, but given the fact that so many applications have been compromised — in many cases long before they have actually reached the app market — it may be prudent for consumers to find new ways to protect themselves.