Telefónica partners with Samsung on mobile security, BYOD

Telefónica Digital, the digital services wing of Spanish operator Telefónica announced a deal with Samsung on Monday that will see the Korean vendor’s recently revamped mobile application containerisation platform Knox made available to Telefónica Digital’s global enterprise and public sector customers.

The move comes as organisations in both the private and public sectors face continued challenges in providing secure access to corporate data on both corporate and non-corporate issued devices.

Samsung introduced Knox in 2013 as an enterprise-grade mobile security platform specifically for its own high-end Android devices. It uses mobile virtualisation to sandbox applications, keeping mobile and corporate information separated and encrypted so users only need one mobile device for both work and non-work activities instead of two.

“This agreement reflects Telefónica’s commitment to provide innovative security solutions to its customers,” said Oliver Martínez, director of security and ehealth services at Telefónica. “With Knox, we are now in a position to bring the best mobile security solution for our enterprise, MNC and Public Administration customers who are using Samsung´s devices.”

Rob Orr, vice president of enterprise sales at Samsung Mobile Europe, said: “We are seeing a requirement in the market to combat security challenges and look forward to working with Telefónica to respond to the increasing convergence between consumer and enterprise technology.”

The announcement comes as CIOs continue to struggle with securing mobile devices as they move to make their organisations more flexible.

Research published last month by enterprise IT incumbent Dell reveals significant increases in IT spending on security solutions as traditional workplaces to transform into cloud-focused BYOD cultures. But at the same time, over 40 per cent of the 1,440 IT pros surveyed for the research claimed to lack confidence in cloud security solutions for mobile platforms currently on the market today, meaning a huge opportunity for new vendors to grow into the expanding market.