McAfee, Asurion Power Verizon Wireless Android Security

Looking to protect customers’ security, Verizon Wireless has introduced Verizon Mobile Security, an application that draws on the company’s network intrusion and data analysis tools to protect Android smartphones. Verizon Mobile Security, available on Android smartphones running Android 2.1 or higher, combines the security capabilities of Asurion and McAfee.

If your customers don’t realize that they are vulnerable to some of the same security and privacy threats that infiltrate laptops and desktops, you may want to add this bit to your talking points. Despite what your customers may think, malware can invade a smartphone when a user clicks a malicious link in a text message or email, scans a fraudulent QR code, surfs a risky website, or downloads and uses a potentially unsafe app on their device. You can talk about these threats to customers to emphasize your point about the importance of protecting their smartphones.

And it’s a threat that’s growing. According to McAfee Threats Report: Second Quarter 2012,  approximately 13,000 distinct pieces of mobile malware have been discovered so far in 2012 – a significant year-over-year increase.  Less than 2,000 distinct pieces were found for the whole year in 2011. The increase potentially represents a large opportunity for managed service providers that can offer protection to their end customers. Here’s a look at how Verizon Wireless is packaging its offering.  To protect customers against these threats, Verizon Mobile Security offers the following implementations: