Sophos Locks Down Business Files with Mobile Control 4.0

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Sophos is making it tougher for hackers to snoop on mobile users’ files.

The company today announced Sophos Mobile Control 4.0 (SMC 4.0), the latest edition of the company’s “user-centric” mobile device management (MDM) software suite. In early 2013, the company made waves by blending endpoint protection and MDM into a single product called EndUser Protection, which is licensed on a per-user, not per-device, basis.

Now, that tradition continues with SMC 4.0.

In keeping with the company’s user-centric approach to MDM, SMC 4.0 provides a Web-based, self-service management console. Users can register devices, report them lost or stolen devices and change passwords, taking a load off an organization’s help desk and freeing up an administrator’s time.

The new version contains new mobile content management capabilities, including file-level encryption on iPhones and iPads. Sophos claims that the software has the distinction of being the only enterprise mobile management solution to include the added security measure.

The feature will help companies strike a balance between the convenience of cloud-based file storage services with corporate security requirements, according to Sophos’ John Zorabedian.

In a recent company-sponsored survey of 700 IT professionals conducted by Spiceworks, “a majority of them said they don’t currently encrypt corporate data shared on cloud services (65%),” wrote Zorabedian in a blog post. “That’s a huge liability.”

SMC 4.0 also works harder to keep Android devices malware-free.

Android is far and away the most popular mobile operating system. Citing figures from ABI Research, the Sophos says that 80 percent of smartphones run Google’s OS. Naturally, that makes Android a big target.

The company’s own SophosLabs data security research unit has detected nearly 900,000 unique pieces of malware that are capable of infecting Android smartphones and tablets. According to the company, SMC 4.0 guards against malware and malicious web sites that target Android devices.

On the network access control front, SMC 4.0 now integrates with Sophos UTM, Checkpoint and Cisco. To prevent the spread of malware onto corporate networks, the software can isolate infected devices.

“SMC 4.0 takes data protection beyond the office door by ensuring persistent mobile encryption on devices,” said Dan Schiappa, senior vice president and general manager of Sophos’ Enduser Security Group, in a statement. “Additional network access control based on device compliance status makes mobile device management, content management and mobile security simple and effective.”

SMC 4.0, available as on-premise software or as a cloud-based service, is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 devices.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Datamation. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.