FireEye Beefs up Mobile Protection with Android App

FireEye (FEYE) expanded its Mobile Threat Prevention platform this week with the introduction of the FireEye Mobile Security app. The addition of the app will allow organizations to protect devices running Android’s OS with FireEye Multi-vector Virtual Execution engine technology and FireEye Dynamic Threat Intelligence. According to the company, the enhancements will give users dynamic malware-related security for their mobile devices to compliment their existing mobile device management (MDM) tools when the app releases in June.

"Mobile security, like advanced persistent threat attacks, is a top security issue in enterprise today, yet it has largely relied on traditional defenses," said Manish Gupta, senior vice president of Products at FireEye, in a prepared statement. "With almost half of the global workforce believed to be using their personal phone for work, the expanded Mobile Threat Prevention platform makes it easy for enterprises to guard their data from mobile threats using the advanced protection FireEye is known for."

FireEye's mobile app utilizes a hybrid-cloud model to perform signatureless analysis of user apps in the cloud while leaving sensitive employee information on-premise. The addition of the mobile app allows the company’s Mobile Threat Prevention platform to identify threats in real time by using behavioral analysis, app blocking and users alerts for any detected suspicious activity. The Android app further simplifies threat detection by giving admins visibility into their networks and devices through a single dashboard.

The enhanced Mobile Threat Prevention platform also gives users access to FireEye Dynamic Threat Intelligence, which evaluates apps against a library of more than 2 million apps from the Google Play Store as well as other third-party app stores. The platform features granular visibility into compromised devices as well as multiple enforcement options to help block malicious software from invading mobile devices, according to the press release.

With the threat of malware attacks on Android higher than any other mobile OS, it makes sense that FireEye is focusing its attention on one particular operating system. However, it seems as though the company is potentially isolating many users of Apple (APPL) products for their enterprise mobile applications. The company has not announced whether it intends to extend the app to iOS down the line, but Android users can sign up to be beta customers of the new solution on FireEye’s website before the product releases next month.