Industry must completely rethink security protocols for mobile devices, security pro says

Open source mobile broadband is doomed unless carriers, software developers and device manufacturers are willing to completely rethink how they secure mobile data, Mocana CEO Adrian Turner says.

Turner, whose company Mocana specializes in providing security to wired and wireless devices for companies such as Cisco, Dell and Siemens, says the type of antivirus software typically installed onto PCs will not work on mobile broadband devices, because it will hinder performance and greatly shorten battery life. While many network providers think they can detect malware through packet sniffing -- that is, decrypting packets, scanning them for malware and then re-encrypting them -- Turner says that this process can create latency problems.

“As we move toward this world of more open IP-based services, the security challenges will become enormous,” he says. “If these things aren’t solved the right way, initiatives like Android will fall flat because people will lose confidence in the platform to keep their data safe.”

In Turner’s mind, securing mobile broadband devices will require widespread collaboration among software developers, carriers and device manufacturers. Among the security measures that Turner thinks will be most important are patch management and certificates that will meld device identification with user identification.