Juniper Makes Mobile Security Pitch

Juniper Networks is announcing a major thrust to secure the most popular smartphones, through a security suite and a unified console which can be deployed by enterprises or service providers.

The company has added a Mobile Security Suite to its existing Junos Pulse client, which was put onto smartphones in February this year, so the software now supports anti-malware, remote wipe and location, and a device firewall, for the four leading operating systems, Apple iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Symbian. It also supports Windows Mobile, Microsoft’s old mobile operating system – and apparently doesn’t yet support the new kid, Windows Phone 7.

Mobile security is a war zone

Network vendors are gearing up to offer mobile security and Juniper’s offering is based on SMobile, a smartphone security company Juniper acquired in July 2010. The idea is to make sure that personal and business data on mobile devices is not compromised if they are lost stolen or hacked, and protect against the growing threat from mobile malware.

Although functions like lock and wipe, and anti-malware are widely available for mobile devices, Juniper is now offering them more consistently across more platforms, and provides an enterprise console to administer them.

Juniper vice president Sanjay Beri told eWEEK US that the suite is the only integrated security package on the market that provides both security and secure connectivity for virtually all mobile devices, and that provides such a deep feature set. “With all the smartphones and tablets coming into the enterprise, and service providers wanting to offer management mobility services, we knew that extending Pulse to the smartphone arena was critical,” Beri said.

The product will be available through third parties, and Juniper intends that enterprises will put it on their networks – and add the Pulse client on their mobile devices, while consumers may be able to get it from their operators.

BT may be the first operators to partner with Juniper. A long term customer of SMobile, BT was at the launch of the suite and said it would offer the suite as an option.

For enterprises, the suite is intended to allow them to support the increasing use of cloud data accessed through mobile devices. Consumers, meanwhile, get the inclusion of parental control functions. These include GPS location and alerts for keywords and photos sent from a child’s phone on the network, as well as measures to protect children from inappropriate contact and exploitation.

Juniper also announced what it believes is the first global threat centre to monitor mobile security threats to consumers and enterprises, based in SMobile’s former offices in Columbus, Ohio. The centre will respond to viruses, spyware and other security vulnerabilities that can expose a user’s personal, professional and sensitive information, Juniper executive and former SMobile CEO Neal Book told eWEEK.

The quoted basic price for the solution is $18.75 per device per year, including the console.

Updated 28 October, with material from Chris Preimesberger, eWEEK US.