A new client-server software product is designed to secure and manage smartphones and other mobile devices in the enterprise, including iPhones. The vendor, Mobile Application Development Partners, says the software can be installed with no changes to existing network or security infrastructures.

Mobile Active Defense Enterprise Unified Threat Management (MAD Enterprise UTM) is preparing a beta test phase later this month, with no scheduled shipping date. Pricing isn’t being disclosed. The product has two parts. A small client application is downloaded to the device to configure it for the UTM server. MAD supports devices running Apple’s renamed iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch), Windows Mobile, Android and Symbian operating systems. The client collects information about the mobile device and delivers a certificate of authority.

The server application combines a firewall for smartphones, a rules-based policy creation and enforcement program, and mobile e-mail security (including screening for phishing attacks and malware) that’s based on MAD’s existing software.

A somewhat similar solution is a joint effort from MobileIron, which offers a server appliance packed with software to monitor the smartphone, andEnterprise Mobile, a Microsoft-backed mobile integrator in Watertown, Mass.

The UTM firewall means that enterprises can import and apply existing security policies to the MAD server, and create new ones specifically for mobile clients, according to Winn Schwartau, chairman of the Atlanta-basedMAD Partners.

With iPhones, for example, UTM encrypts all communications between the UTM client and server, and lets administrators set policies on such things allowing the use of the iPhone’s Safari browser, or blocking access to specific services or Web sites, such as Apple iTunes or YouTube, or requiring an active VPN.

UTM lets administrators revoke the device certificate, blocking the device from accessing the enterprise network, and can remotely wipe data from a lost or stolen device.

The server can be installed on the corporate network or accessed as a MAD-hosted service.

Source: Network World