How secure is Mobile Device Management anyway?

Objective-C HookingResearchers have successfully breached the Good Technology container. MDM software can only be as secure as the underlying operating system.


As the adoption of smartphones and tablets grows exponentially, one of the biggest challenges facing corporate IT organizations is not the threat of losing the device – likely owned by the employee – but the threat of a targeted attack stealing sensitive corporate data stored on these mobile devices. As a first line of defense, an increasing number of companies rely on Mobile Device Management software and Secure Container solutions to secure and manage corporate data accessed from these mobile devices. However, a recent analysis conducted by Lacoon Mobile Security – presented a few weeks ago at the BlackHat conference in Amsterdam – shows that the leading secure container solution Good Technology can be breached and corporate email stolen from Apple iOS and Android devices.

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Mobile Security: iOS Jailbreaks Pose Risks

Mobile Security: iOS Jailbreaks Pose RisksJailbreaking is happening in the millions: don’t turn a blind eye.



The latest jailbreak for iOS 6.1, released on 4 February, was downloaded by a whopping 5 million users in the first 48 hours alone, according to the website stats posted by Cyril (a.k.a. pod2g), the developer of the latest hack published on evasi0n.com. During these first two days, the websites served 40 million page views of which a good 50 per cent to 2.5 million unique visitors from the U.S.

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Smartphone Security Winners & Losers

Mobile Security Winners & LosersPost based on my interview with Jeanne Friedman, content manager for  RSA Conference.

In the mobile space the BYOD trend is becoming a minefield for IT administrators. Many companies have experienced a data breach as a result of an employee owned device accessing the corporate network. When the stakes are this high, corporate IT needs to know which platforms to allow and which to refuse.

Android is the most popular mobile platform in the world. It is also the most vulnerable to attack and in fact the most exploited. Contrary to common perception, Apple mobile devices are not immune to security flaws. And in fact less secure than Android if users “jail break” their devices – to escape Apple’s control.

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BYOD: A Leap Of Faith For Enterprise Users? What has changed in the past year.

Post based on my remarks at Direction 2012 Conference* in Tokyo – August 7, 2012.

I’ve been talking about Consumerization and BYOD – bring-your-own-device – for quite a while now. What has changed in that past year since my presentation at the CIO Summit in Singapore?

What has changed is that more and more organizations are adopting BYOD. Executives and IT managers are learning about the benefits and the perils of BYOD first-hand.

Trend Micro has been working with industry analysts like Decisive Analytics and Forrester Research to take the pulse of IT decision-makers, to help us understand their challenges and what solutions we can offer. They also give us great insights into the state of the union of BYOD.

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BYOD Best Practices – Three pitfalls you can’t afford to ignore

In a previous post1I raised three pitfalls that your BYOD program cannot afford to ignore when allowing employees to use their personal devices for work:

- Remote deletion of personal data on an employee-owned device
- Tracking an individual’s location
- Monitoring an employee’s Internet access

Based on my involvement with various BYOD projects2 and my ongoing conversations with many industry experts, here is my recommendation for three best practices that will allow you to strike the delicate balance between employee privacy and corporate liability :

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How Secure is Your Smartphone? Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phone Under Attack

Post based on my interview* with David Gilbert of IBTimes UK

As the adoption of smartphones grows rapidly, one of the biggest challenges facing the manufacturers, developers and, ultimately, users is not the threat of losing your phone, but the threat of someone stealing the personal data stored on your mobile phone.

Senior Director of Consumerization at Trend Micro, Cesare Garlati spoke to the IBTimes UK about this serious issue and made it clear that no matter what type of phone you own, you are in danger. “Every single platform is exposed to this, no platform is immune. Some are safer than others, but none are immune.”

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The Dark Side of BYOD: Privacy, Personal Data Loss and Device Seizure

Many employees don’t understand the implications of using their personal devices for work. Many companies don’t understand that they are in fact liable for the consequences. This post covers the things you always wanted to know about BYOD but were too afraid to ask.

Good News: Your company offers a BYOD program. You can finally stop carrying that boring corporate phone and use your own shiny new iPhone for work. Even better, you can now check your corporate email from home while streaming YouTube videos on your Galaxy tablet. Your company picks up part of the bill and even provides enterprise-grade help desk support to help you with your gadgets. It looks like an offer you can’t refuse.

Bad News:  You joined your company’s BYOD program. One morning you wake up, reach for your iPad to check the email but it doesn’t turn on. Your iPad is dead. Totally bricked. After a quick family investigation you realize that the little one tried to guess your password to play Angry Birds before you would wake up. Too bad the security policy enforced by the corporate email account triggered your iPad self-destruction to prevent sensitive corporate data from unauthorized access. Angrier than those famous birds? Wait until you realize that the device itself can be brought back to life and your corporate data restored. But that your pictures, videos and songs are gone. Forever. Note: the case above is based on a true story, my son’s name is Luca.
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Consumerization and Mobile Security

How to bypass the iPad password in 5 second

*** UPDATED AS OF 11/14/2011: I can confirm that Apple has fixed this security flaw in iOS 5.0.1 (9A405) ***



Watch how to crack the iPad password in 5 secondsThe consumerization of IT is the single most influential technology trend of this decade. Companies are already well aware of it, as they wrestle with the growing influence of smartphones, tablets, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox and on and on. While this growth does bring business value, too many companies make the mistake to trust consumer technology with corporate sensitive data without deploying appropriate enterprise-grade infrastructure to secure and manage it. Consumer technology is sexy, convenient and easy to use. When it comes to security and data protection however, consumer technology still has a long way to go. Security and data protection in fact remain top concerns among IT professionals – see The Consumerization Report 2011.

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Trend Micro Consumerization Report 2011

An increasing number of organizations take a strategic approach to Consumerization by providing IT support for personal devices and by deploying new IT tools to secure and manage them.


This online survey was conducted in June 2011 in the U.S., Germany and Japan among IT personnel responsible for endpoint operational management and/or messaging and collaboration operations. Respondents needed to be part of an organization with at least 500 employees worldwide. A total of 600 surveys were collected equally distributed across countries and industry verticals.

Consumerization reaches the tipping point

Data shows that the majority of companies surveyed already allow employees to use their personal devices for work-related activities. On an aggregate, 56% of the

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Embrace Consumerization in the Enterprise

Fireside Chat with Ty Smallwood, Chief Security Officer, Medical Center of Central Georgia – Gartner Security Summit 2011, Washington DC.


According to Gartner, the consumerization of IT is the most significant trend affecting the IT Industry in the next ten years. As the Security Officer of one of the largest health care organizations in the U.S., how do you feel about this trend? How is it affecting your organization?

There has definitely been an impact on the organization, both from a policy process and procedure perspective. The cost to accommodate consumerization is always a factor.

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