Enterprises with BYOD Targeted by Samsung Knox
Enterprises with BYOD Targeted by Samsung Knox by UCStrategies Staff
Knox is a new security offering from Samsung, and marks the company’s entry into the mobile device management market.
The offering was released at the Mobile World Congress 2013 earlier this week, and has been created by Samsung specifically to provide security and mobile device management services for Android devices. It has the ability to separate usage of devices for business and home at the application layer, similar to BlackBerry 10’s Balance.
The Security Enhanced (SE) Android version of the popular OS (which was created by the U.S. National Security Agency) is incorporated in the Samsung Knox design. File system-level encryption is also used in order to keep business data safe, and the service also uses applications to protect from data leakage and malware.
“Existing common enterprise infrastructure” such as mobile device management software, VPNs and directory services are all compatible with Samsung’s Knox, according to the company. Knox is presently targeting enterprises with BYOD strategies that are in need of extra layers of security and privacy protection.
The president of Samsung's Mobile Division, J.K. Shiivision, said: “Security and privacy are understandably held up as barriers to businesses embracing BYOD demands. Meanwhile, users are seeing the latest smartphones and tablets and knocking at the door of IT demanding to be able to use their own devices. The solution is clear -- combine the business and personal in a single device. Samsung Knox achieves this harmony between enterprise control and employee satisfaction by delivering fundamental security at the platform level while leaving the user experience consistent.”
Furthermore, Android applications can automatically receive enterprise integration and validation without the need to alter the application’s source code; this is allowed through Samsung’s Knox. As a result, Android developers need not be concerned about the addition of individual enterprise features like single sign-on, Active Directory support and on-device encryption to their application. Users are also able to access the Knox container through a homescreen icon, and this provides users with a range of enterprise applications.
Certain Galaxy devices will carry Knox as of Q2 2013; however, it is unclear whether those devices will be smartphones, tablets or both. (CY) Link