Workshare Protect Mobile secures data on laptops, removable storage devices and PDAs.
Workshare on Monday unveiled software designed to help companies keep sensitive information from being copied or distributed without authorization via portable devices.
Workshare Protect Mobile is a new component in the vendor’s Protect Enterprise suite, which combines desktop- and network-based elements. The full suite includes Protect Client, an application that enforces content security policies at the desktop; Policy Manager, a centralized management console for creating and distributing content policies; and Network Protect, a gateway appliance for auditing and controlling outbound network traffic.
Protect Mobile is designed to monitor devices such as laptops, USB key drives, writable CD drives and iPods. It also tracks messages that originate on PDAs or public Web kiosks.
Preventing malicious and inadvertent data leaks from portable storage devices is a challenge for enterprises – and one that should be shouldered not only by IT but by everyone in the company, says Ken Rutsky, executive vice president of marketing at Workshare. “If you have 10,000 employees, you have 10,000 people who should be doing risk and compliance,” Rutsky says.
Like other elements of the Protect Enterprise suite, Protect Mobile puts control in users’ hands. It alerts users when they attempt to copy or distribute sensitive data, and it lets users – if authorized – decide whether or not to proceed with the transaction once aware of the risks. In addition, Protect Mobile can take steps to remediate data loss by removing hidden data in a file or encrypting content, for example.
Protect Mobile includes client software for laptops that can be programmed to automatically lock sensitive files, even when a laptop isn’t connected to the corporate network. A “data at rest” scheduling and discovery tool alerts users to risks associated with the data they’re storing or copying, and it provides administrator reports in the event a laptop is lost or stolen.
For removable storage devices, Protect Mobile enforces identity-based content policies that govern whether a user is allowed to copy, print or save particular files. It covers USB, CD/DVD, iPod and U3 drives.
For PDAs, Protect Mobile assesses messages and can take action such as blocking a message or sanitizing content before it leaves an enterprise e-mail network.
Pricing for Protect Mobile starts at $10 per user, per year. The rest of the Protect Enterprise Suite costs between $29 and $49 per user, per year, depending on configuration.
