Security Intelligence: A Practitioner's Guide to Solving Enterprise Security Challenges

CHAPTER 9

Mobile Security

The Apple iOS and Google Android mobile operating systems have revolutionized the mobile device market, as evidenced by the amazing market growth in the mobile phone industry. Millions of mobile applications have been developed to serve just about any purpose or need imaginable. These devices have changed our social behavior and influenced the way we do business in this new mobile computing era.

Mobile devices and smartphones provide ubiquitous and convenient access to information and services. Major news networks, entertainment content, social networks, blogs, and tweets are only a click away. Mobile device–specific applications have been built to enable access to corporate email systems, web mail systems, online banking, online shopping, prescription services, and point of sale (POS) systems, which are as comprehensive as traditional in-person services but consume only a fraction of the time to complete. The computing power and feature sets of these mobile devices are evolving rapidly and are becoming comparable to those of desktop and laptop computers. A popular prediction is these mobile devices will replace desktop and laptop computers in the not-so-distant future. These new-generation mobile devices are more than just gadgets for entertainment and making phone calls.

The always-on, anywhere, and anytime computing paradigm trades security for convenience. “Bring your own device” (BYOD) refers to the situation where an employee's personal mobile ...