CREDANT Technologies and Cranite Systems, Inc. yesterday announced an alliance designed to provide end-to-end WLAN security for organizations that have mobile workers out in the real world, in addition to those working within the confines of the campus or office. These days, that includes a lot of organizations.
The companies see this solution—which combines CREDANT’s Mobile Guardian device security and management software and Cranites WirelessWall WLAN security software—as ideally suited to the needs of organizations with demanding security and confidentiality requirements, such as government agencies, financial services and healthcare institutions.
In many cases, these organizations are subject to government regulations, such as Gramm-Leach Bliley, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, or California SB1386. The joint solution has in fact been selected for use by the U.S. Army Medical Command.
Growing awareness of the vulnerability of enterprise data on mobile devices has prompted organizations to seek, and vendors to supply, new, extended, end-to-end systems that keep information secure regardless of the whereabouts of the worker. This lets companies and agencies to enjoy the benefits of mobile computing without kicking up the risk level.
With strong security for the endpoint from CREDANT, applications and sensitive data are protected when devices are lost or stolen. Supporting a broad spectrum of mobile operating systems and device types, the CREDANT solution enforces on-device security policies that control user and device access (including self-service password reset); encryption of files, folders, disks and/or removable media; and authorization policies that control where devices can synchronize, what applications can run on the device, as well as use of communication ports, external media cards, cameras and microphones.
Cranite’s WirelessWall software controls access to wireless networks and, using Layer 2 protection and the Advanced Encryption Standard, guards against attacks like man-in-the-middle, identity theft, or denial of service. Layer 2 protection also lets users securely roam across subnets without experiencing interruptions or having to reauthenticate or reboot.
“When businesses consider what it takes to secure networks today, they have to take a broad perspective, to include data in transit as well as data at rest. IT managers are coming to realize that the Internet is now an extension of their enterprise network,” said John Vigouroux, Cranite CEO.
At the same time—as wireless networks are gaining wide acceptance—governments at all levels are seeking to create reliable standards, both to prevent the compromise of networks, and to preserve the confidentiality of records in organizational databases.
“The combined CREDANT and Cranite offerings provide a level of wireless security that many of our government customers cannot live without,” said Bob Heard, CREDANT president and CEO. “Combining our core technologies allows us to offer our joint customers who have a need to meet demanding standards imposed by government regulation, an unmatched, government-certified end-to-end security solution for the mobile enterprise.”