The solutions offered by Symantec in the domain of mobile security will include VPN, data encryption, anti-spam and other features.
The first line of security software for Windows Mobile devices will be launched by Symantec. Paul Miller, the managing director of mobile and wireless at Symantec, said that the solutions offered by Symantec until now included anti-virus software for Windows Mobile and a suite of anti-virus and firewall for Symbian. Called Symantec Mobile Security Suite 5.0, this suite wants to match the upcoming version 5.0 of the company's suite for the Symbian OS.

    Mobile security has become one of the main concerns of businesses, as smart phones and other handheld devices have to be supplied to all types of workers. At the same time, they have to face new regulations regarding the handling of data. Mobile data protection has become a very important topic because there private information has suffered many losses in this field. The kind of protection given to PCs aims to be extended by Symantec.

     Miller claims that mobile devices are not so threated by viruses as are PCs, so need for protection not seriously taken into consideration by companies. Still, these kind of mobile devices could be in danger if there is no surveillance over them and could become attackers' next major path into company networks. Thus, new tools to secure devices have been added by Symantec. They are being used and combined those with features to prevent data loss if they are lost or stolen.

    All data will be able to be encrypted on a handheld device and its storage cards, or just selected files, using 256-bit AES encryption. A user name and password will protect access to the data. They will show up when the device is started, said Miller. Users are prevented from accessing infected files by the anti-virus component and the devices can be regularly scanned by administrators. Symantec mentions that spam text messages can be filtered out and deleted due to the anti-spam feature. Also included are an IPSec VPN, a tool for keeping devices that are not compliant with policies off the network, and a mechanism for keeping employees from using selected features of a device.

In the case of theft, the data can be remotely deleted by the administrators or set up so it is eliminated after a specified number of password tries. An audit log feature that keeps track of activity on the device is also included in the suite. This allows the company to survey everything that happens after the device fells out of the employee's hands.

According to Symantec spokesman Brian Modena, some of the technology in the suite, primarily VPN and encryption, is licensed from BlueFire Security Technologies.

    Symantec, enterprise resellers and system integrators plan to launch the suite until May. Miller said that the suite can also be sold by mobile operators as optional or standard features on devices, or on a monthly service basis. A consumer version of the suite, called Norton Mobile Security 5.0 for Windows Mobile, is planned to be released in May as well. The suite is priced at US$79.95 per device.