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With the rise of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives and a growing fear in IT departments that allowing employees to use personal devices for work could open the organization to data security breaches, mobile security specialists are working to provide solutions to protect sensitive information from leaving the company network. KoolSpan, a provider of encrypted solutions for connected devices, and IT security consulting firm intiGrow are now partnering to offer a platform to help protect mobile devices in the enterprise.
intiGrow will resell and integrate KoolSpan’s mobile security solutions as part of a three-pronged approach to mobile security, which includes KoolSpan’s TrustSuite of products, along with a mobile-device-management (MDM) and access-management technology. The platform, based on KoolSpan’s patented FIPS 140-2 TrustChip, is a hardened, self-contained crypto engine inserted into a smartphone or tablet’s microSD slot. The technology is the basis for all KoolSpan applications.
“Increases in unwanted surveillance and cyber-hacking, combined with work and social demands, are influencing employees to bring their own devices. This creates a huge, unrecognized vulnerability for companies all over the world,” Francis Knott, senior vice president at KoolSpan, said in a press release. “Partnering with IT security systems integrator intiGrow allows us to put our solution in the hands of global enterprises and be a part of an overall security solution that finally solves the mobile security issue without altering the end-user experience.”
The intiGrow offering encrypts voice and text and enables organizations to remotely destroy sensitive data, control device configuration and apps, and configure access as needed while leaving the user’s personal data untouched. The platform is also designed to improve call quality over software-based encryption and reduce the drain on device battery life and improve overall performance, as it does not require users to stay logged into a server.
In addition, the KoolSpan TrustChip can be removed from one device and placed in another, allowing mobile security to be transferred from phone to phone, or the chip can be bound to a single device, rendering it unusable on any other. The company’s other products include TrustCall for mobile voice security, TrustText for secure text messaging, TrustCenter mobile security management software, TrustGroup’s encryption key management offering and TrustChip for connected device security.
“With this partnership, intiGrow clients will gain a competitive advantage by having a complete mobile security solution that is unique,” Dan Fitzgerald, vice president of sales at intiGrow, said in a prepared statement. “No one else in the space is really leading the charge of securing voice and text. KoolSpan not only has leading technology but also provides a Software Developer Kit that will allow us to work directly with the TrustChip platform to develop customized solutions for our customers.”