With data traffic continuing its dramatic migration to the mobile sphere, smartphones and handheld devices have (predictably) become prime targets for criminals. The diverse array of data stored on smartphones is one of the reasons they are so appealing to cybercriminals. The longstanding “work phone/personal phone” dichotomy is also disappearing, meaning that many smartphones now house a combination of personal and corporate data. For a hacker, a single device breach can yield a virtual treasure trove of data.
Fortunately, there’s a new and effective security solution available: mobile virtualization. This strategy offers enhanced protection for both personal and business data without sacrificing usability.
Key Features of Mobile Virtualization
Mobile virtualization is quickly catching up to server-based network levels due to recent improvements in mobile IT and data delivery infrastructure. Mobile OS virtualization makes it possible for security systems to split a single device into multiple “virtual” devices. This approach offers a long list of benefits, including:
- Vastly improved security and system scalability
- The ability to run multiple virtual smartphones with individual namespaces
- Superior preservation of user privacy
- No discernible loss of performance
In essence, mobile virtualization works by splitting devices into customizable categorizations, based on usage. For example, a single smartphone can be separated into multiple virtual smartphones, each of which is defined by usage parameters. This enables an end user to send text messages from one profile, log in to social media accounts from a separate profile, and access corporate data from a third profile. Thus, data is segregated and therefore better protected than it would be if the device was operating on a single security profile.
Previous approaches centered on “containerization,” which means protected apps are forced to continually send and receive data from the device’s centralized hardware. In essence, these protected apps run alongside unprotected apps, and if unprotected apps are breached by malware, they can harvest important data from protected apps. Mobile virtualization physically separates various functions, completely eliminating this shortcoming of containerization.
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) have major selling points to leverage by adding mobile virtualization to their suite of security offerings. To learn more about mobile virtualization and to access a comprehensive digital library of informational resources on trends in the IT and telecom industry, visit eXemplify.