Kaspersky Security for Mobile Adds New Support for Windows Phone and Samsung SAFE Devices

At Mobile World Congress 2014, Kaspersky Lab has announced two new capabilities for Kaspersky Security for Mobile. The company’s corporate mobile security solution will now support current and future versions of the Windows operating system for smartphones, which means all Windows Phone 8 business users can now be protected by Kaspersky Lab. In addition to Windows Phone® 8 support, Kaspersky Security for Mobile now supports devices that meet Samsung’s SAFE™ criteria for secure mobile devices. By directly supporting devices that have met Samsung’s SAFE requirements, network administrator using Kaspersky Security for Mobile on Samsung devices will have stronger centralized control over secure data and devices than ever before.

Gartner forecasts 1.9 billion mobile phones will ship in 2014, an increase of 5% from 2013. Ultramobile devices, which include traditional tablets as well as hybrid and clamshell devices, are expected to boom in popularity in 2014, with Gartner predicting a 54% growth rate throughout the year ¹). As the global demand for mobile and portable computing devices begins to outweigh demand for traditional endpoint computers, Kaspersky Lab is making strides to expand the capabilities of its mobile security and management solutions.

Windows Phone

Microsoft’s mobile operating system has firmly established itself as the third most popular platform for mobile devices, behind Android and Apple iOS. According to analysis published by research firm Strategy Analytics, Microsoft shipped nearly 36 million devices that use its Windows Phone 8 operating system², making these devices viable options for businesses that want to standardize the use of Microsoft software across their IT network. For these businesses, Kaspersky Security for Mobile provides protection from web-based threats, and MDM capabilities that can be managed from the same console as Kaspersky Lab’s solutions for traditional and virtual computers and servers, combining premium protection with seamless manageability.

Kaspersky Security for Mobile now works with Windows Phone 8 through a client-based security agent to provide safe web browsing and protection from phishing and other web-based threats. Kaspersky Security for Mobile will also continue to support Exchange ActiveSync policies, as well as allow administrators to set custom security policies for each employee’s mobile device, all managed through a central console. Kaspersky Security for Mobile is offered as a standalone application, or as a component of Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, the company’s flagship security suite for businesses of all sizes.

Samsung – SAFE

SAFE (Samsung for Enterprise) is a designation given to select Samsung smartphones and Samsung Galaxy Tab® devices that meet requirements for IT administrator accessibility and management capabilities. In general, devices in the SAFE program have capabilities that include support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, VPN connectivity, on-device encryption, and MDM capabilities. By leveraging these accessibility features, Kaspersky Security for Mobile can now offer client-side security and management features, giving IT administrators a deeper level of control.

By accessing the control features built into these Samsung devices through Kaspersky Security for Mobile, IT administrators will be able to leverage anti-theft functions – including remote-wipe, remote-lock and GPS-enabled tracking – and use policy-driven application control and web content filtering. In addition, these Samsung devices will benefit from Kaspersky Lab’s industry’s leading anti-malware protection, which has detected more than 10 million malicious Android applications to date, and over 200,000 samples of unique Android malware.

“As mobile devices become more ingrained in the lives of consumers and day-to-day business operations, Kaspersky Lab is working steadily to stay ahead of cybercriminals that seek to exploit these new tools,” said Victor Yablokov, Head of Mobile Product Line, Kaspersky Lab. “Our new support for Windows Phone and Samsung’s SAFE program demonstrates our commitment to working with industry leaders that are taking steps to secure the future of mobile computing, and we welcome the opportunity to give offer these latest improvements to our customers and industry partners.”

These new features for Windows Mobile 8 and Samsung for Enterprise devices will be included in the next version of Kaspersky Security for Mobile, which has been issued to our partner organizations for development, and is expected to be generally available in April 2014.

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More information about Kaspersky Security for Mobile

¹ Gartner Press Release, Gartner Says Worldwide Traditional PC, Tablet, Ultramobile and Mobile Phone Shipments On Pace to Grow 7.6 Percent in 2014, January 7, 2014. http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2645115?nicam=prsm13
²http://blogs.strategyanalytics.com/WSS/post/2014/01/29/Android-Captured-79-Share-of-Global-Smartphone-Shipments-in-2013.aspx