Mobile Security: Four Key Opportunities for the Channel
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With the number of mobile devices deployed shooting up, recent news about Android
security vulnerabilities and the exposure of more than 100,000 iPad
users' personal data raising user awareness about mobile security, opportunities
for channel partners to sell mobile protection into customer environments have
certainly ripened. That's if these partners and their vendors can target the
mobile risks that matter, security experts believe.
The truth is that security vendors have long
been proclaiming that mobile malware would soon overwhelm enterprises once
mobile devices established critical mass. But, much like end-times prophets who
must periodically "update" their projections for the end of the world,
these security prognosticators have pushed back the date of the mobile-security
apocalypse.
Smartphone
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"A few years ago, F-Secure and Sophos were banging the drum; then, it
was Symantec, then McAfee, and now Kaspersky" wrote Andrew
Jaquith of Forrester Research in a blog post earlier this year. "Not
one of these vendors’ predictions have come remotely true, and none of the
vendors are making any money (or even selling much product) in this space."
Jaquith says that the sheer variety of mobile platforms makes the rapid
proliferation of widespread malware much less likely than it was on the PC
running the ubiquitous Microsoft platforms.
However, this doesn't mean that the opportunities for channel partners to
sell mobile security are limited. In fact, there are certain key niches and
verticals that are looking hotter than ever for solution providers that
can help customers manage devices and better secure application.
Some key opportunities and trends make the following markets desirable for
the channel:
- Banking mobile security
- Mobile device management
- End-to-end consulting and
deployment
- Growing vendor maturity
Let's take a look at each in greater depth.
