Mobile Active Defense Brings Application Access Control(TM) to Inspect, Detect and Defend Against Hostile Mobile Apps

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- RSA -- M.A.D. Partners, LLC, The Smartphone Security Company, announced that Application Access Control will be available shortly for Mobile Active Defense's award-winning Mobile Enterprise Compliance and Security Server (MECS). Application Access Control on MECS will inspect and detect known hostile apps and prevent them from being downloaded to mobile phones and tablets.

"Blacklisting and whitelisting are good, but not good enough because app versions are in a constant state of upgrading and flux while websites tend to be more constant with their content," said Rob Smith, M.A.D. Partners' CTO and co-founder.

"App stores are the best hostile software distribution mechanism ever invented by man." Studies have suggested that in the summer of 2010 more than 20% of mobile apps were infected with something unwanted and unadvertised. "We can now defend smartphones from apps behaving badly before they ever reach the phone and in near real time when they act suspiciously."

Application Access Control on MECS will inspect and detect known hostile apps and prevent them from being downloaded to mobile phones and tablets.

Hundreds of thousands of mobile apps have been downloaded more than 10 billion times for the iPhone/iPad alone, while Android app downloads approach 2 billion. The problem for business and enterprise managers is simple ... or not so simple, depending upon your viewpoint: Should the company permit unvetted, untested and potentially harmful apps to be downloaded to iPhones/iPads and other mobile devices?

"Smart security organizations apply industry best practices and allow their users to download approved and tested applications," according to Pat Burke, SRA Senior Vice President of Offerings and Products. "MAD Partners Application Access Control allows organizations to protect their enterprises by quarantining misbehaving applications before they even have a chance of adversely impacting their environment."

The award-winning Mobile Active Defense MECS Server controls and manages mobile apps with the patent-pending Application Access Control™ in several ways:

• Maintain a list of known bad or hostile apps.
• Update the list regularly.
• Restrict app store access altogether.
• Ban all infected apps from the mobile enterprise automatically.
• Inspect and detect hostile or suspicious application behavior on the device.
• Initiate remediation of any detected security threat.

The concern is unknown payloads embedded in the apps. Some app payloads contain ad-ware; others contain "phone home" routines that transmit private user and device details to a distant criminal. The biggest problem with app payloads, according to Smith, is, "Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get without AAC."

Smith continues, "This is exactly like what we saw 20-some years ago with viruses. Unless you carefully vet and analyze your application software, you don't know if there's a time bomb or other event trigger hidden in the app. App stores don't analyze source code for security or data leaks. To protect the networks, the endpoints must be locked down with the same stringency as any other computer on the network."

Winn Schwartau, Chairman of M.A.D. Partners, LLC, said, "Our customers have been crying out for such a solution. We can now provide mobile enterprises with more security and compliance than ever before possible. With M.A.D.'s powerful geolocation-based firewall, content filtering and remote wipe capabilities, mobile enterprises can finally achieve the level of security and compliance they deserve."

About Mobile Active Defense:

The award-winning Mobile Active Defense MECS Server is the flagship product made by M.A.D. Partners, LLC, The Smartphone Security Company. Headquartered in Atlanta, GA with offices in San Jose, CA; Mainz, Germany; and London, England, the core team has almost 200 years of combined experience in security hardware and software product design and development, marketing, sales and support. http://www.mobileactivedefense.com/

For more information, contact Jackie Baumann at [email protected] or 941-266-3819.

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SOURCE Mobile Application Development Partners, LLC