Trend Micro adds encryption to mobile security software

Trend Micro today announced Version 5.0 of its Mobile Security software for the Microsoft Windows Mobile and Symbian/S60 mobile-device platforms, adding an encryption capability to protect data at rest. 

Trend Micro Mobile Security (TMMS) 5.0 “Standard” includes anti-virus, firewall, intrusion-detection and centralized management for the Windows Mobile 5.0/6.0 and Symbian/S60 3rd Edition devices. TMMS 5.0 “Advanced” adds the ability to encrypt folders or a class of folders automatically, based on policies set by the administrator.

“You can establish a policy for encrypting automatically that’s transparent to the user,” says Tod Thiemann, director of device-security marketing. If the mobile device is lost or stolen, the data remains encrypted until unlocked with a password.

TMMS 5.0 Advanced offers several encryption modes, including the 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm and 1,028 Triple-DES. Data encryption typically carries some processing impact, with stronger encryption requiring more processing power. “It does have a CPU-impact,” Thiemann acknowledges.

TMMS 5.0 device management can be done through the Trend Micro OfficeScan Client/Server Edition 8.0 console (used for managing medium- and large-enterprise PC and server security) by installing the TMMS 5.0 management component.

For customers that don’t use OfficeScan 8.0, the TMMS 5.0 management console can function independently for security management of Windows Mobile and Symbian.

TMMS 5.0 Standard costs $35 per device while Advanced costs $70 per device. Volume discounts are available. The TMMS 5.0 Standard and Advanced versions for Windows Mobile are available now, while the Standard and Advanced Versions for Symbian/S60 3rd Edition are expected to ship the first half of 2008.