New Service Gives Employees the Access They Want; Provides Businesses with the Security They Need

Blue Coat Systems, Inc., a market leader in Web security and WAN optimization, today introduced the Blue Coat Mobile Device Security (MDS) service, enabling businesses to extend the boundaries of the security perimeter to iOS devices in any location, on any network.  The new security-as-a-service closes the security gap that leaves businesses without a control point over mobile browser (m.) applications and exposed to Web-based threats.

Businesses are increasingly allowing mobile devices access to the network through corporate mobile initiatives that improve workforce productivity, Bring Your Own Device ("BYOD") initiatives to give employees greater flexibility or guest device initiatives to enable a closer working relationship with partners, customers and other constituencies.  As businesses move to fully embrace mobile devices in their extended corporate environment, they need to overcome three real risks: Exposure to Web-based threats, inadvertent data loss via native mobile and mobile browser applications, and employees circumventing corporate security policies.

The Blue Coat MDS service operates at the network level, versus the device level, to extend the same protection and control that is available in corporate headquarters to mobile devices in any location.  This approach allows businesses to embrace mobile devices in the corporate environment by delivering three key features:

·         Advanced Defenses: The Blue Coat MDS service is powered by WebPulse™ and the industry's only Negative Day Defense to protect against device agnostic threats that indiscriminately target users on laptops, desktops, smartphones and tablets.

·         Granular Application and Operation Controls: Unlike mobile device-level solutions that simply block entire mobile applications and offer no control over mobile browser applications, the MDS service provides granular application and operational controls across both types of applications – native mobile and mobile browser.  These granular controls allow businesses to set flexible IT policies that prevent inadvertent data loss and ensure consistent enforcement across the extended environment, closing the application security gap.

·         Contextual Policies: To balance the demand for network access from employees with the security needs of the business, the MDS service supports a robust policy framework that intelligently applies policies based on user, device, location and content.  This flexibility allows businesses to create policies that can accommodate both personal and business usage without compromising security.

Christian Christiansen, Program Vice President, Security at IDC commented, "The new enterprise exists beyond the office, in airports and coffee shops, wherever employees are, and successfully leveraging this new mobility requires enterprises to fully integrate mobile devices into their corporate environment by extending protection and policies to them, wherever they are.  A network-based approach to this challenge removes IT from the business of managing hundreds or thousands of new end points while providing a more comprehensive and flexible security for those devices."

The Blue Coat MDS service is available through the Blue Coat Cloud Service, an enterprise-grade global infrastructure that delivers performance and scale with a 99.999 percent service level guarantee.

Justin Lee, Country Manager for South Africa at Blue Coat Systems added, "Mobile devices are game changing for the enterprise, but today, users on those devices are almost completely unprotected against Web-based threats and inadvertent data loss from unmanaged mobile browser applications. The Blue Coat Mobile Device Security service seamlessly extends the industry's leading threat protection and policy controls from the corporate network to mobile devices, to give businesses the confidence that their users and data are protected."

The MDS service is newest component of the Blue Coat Unified Security solution that delivers Global Threat Protection, Universal Policies and Unified Reporting to all users on devices across the organization.  The Unified Security solution uses the same policy and protection infrastructure across deployment models, including Blue Coat Secure Web Gateway appliances and virtual appliances and the Blue Coat Cloud Service, giving businesses the flexibility to meet their unique security requirements on a location-by-location basis.

Availability

The Blue Coat Mobile Device Security service will be available December 10.

About Blue Coat Systems

Blue Coat Systems provides Web security and WAN optimization solutions to 86 percent of FORTUNE Global 500 companies.  As the market share leader in the secure web gateway market, Blue Coat sets the standard for enterprise security.  Its solutions provide the visibility, protection and control required to optimize and secure the flow of information to any user, on any network, anywhere.  For additional information, please visit www.bluecoat.com.

# # #

Blue Coat, WebPulse and the Blue Coat logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Blue Coat Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts

Maria Muller
éclat Marketing
Tel: +44 (0) 1276 486 000
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Twitter: @Maria_Muller