Symantec Upgrades Mobile Security for Android and iOS

Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) fleshed out its mobile security profile with a number of new Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iOS updates aimed at securing mobile email, application management and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs.

“The reality is that the majority of organizations are no longer standing on the sidelines simply weighing the pros and cons of various enterprise mobility strategies; they are now running plays and driving down the field,” said Anil Chakravarthy, Symantec Enterprise Security Group senior vice president, in a blog post.

Chakravarthy said that Symantec’s customers are indicating their intention to adopt more Android-based devices, prompting the vendor to expand its security and management solutions for the platform.

Along those lines, Symantec has been urging channel partners to re-orient their sales approach to enterprise customers away from focusing on antivirus and antispam and toward the wider view of data loss prevention, encryption and other vital security technologies.

Symantec’s new mobile security products:

Mobile security updates include:

Symantec’s 2012 State of Information Survey of 4,500 respondents worldwide indicated that some 69 percent of the participating companies had lost and/or compromised important information in the prior year. Throw out a statistic like that and the need for mobile device security becomes pretty obvious.