McAfee & Symantec are bringing more security to mobile devices

Wolfram Funk

McAfee is acquiring privately owned Trust Digital to bring streamlined management and security solutions to the mobile device market. Trust Digital's management tools work on all the leading handheld platforms except those from Research in Motion Ltd., and are capable of helping operators and administrators deliver security and device management. Capabilities include centralized deployment, policy implementation and enforcement, and user assistance, all of which can be managed from a centralized management and reporting console. McAfee aims to integrate these offerings with its McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator console, to integrate management and security resources across mobile and desk-based endpoints. The acquisition price is undisclosed.

Experton Group believes McAfee has snapped up a good technology and solution provider in Trust Digital. The company has been working aggressively to transform itself from a security provider to an integrated management and security vendor offering both hosted and traditional software offerings. Secure and consistent management of mobile platforms looks a bit like the Wild West right now, and IT executives should watch to see how well McAfee can transform Trust Digital's products into a logical and integrated extension of their other enterprise platform offerings.

Symantec Brings Security Suite to Mobile Devices. Just days after rival McAfee bought into the mobile security market, Symantec has announced Norton Everywhere, an extension of its platform for non-PC devices, particularly smartphones. The company has released the suite of tools initially for Android and iPhone, with other operating systems to follow. It is also targeting the rising variety of devices connected to the internet using Wi-Fi, such as tablets, media players and the iPod Touch.