New ‘Mobile App Security’ Working Group Includes Mocana, McAfee, Wind River, FireEye and SAP.
Mocana, the device security leader, today announced the formation of the Mobile App Security Working Group (MAS), a non-profit association of mobility, security and enterprise stakeholders who are seeking to simplify and accelerate the deployment of secure mobile apps in all kinds of environments, on all kinds of devices – from the enterprise to the emergency room, from the power plant to the automobile.
The announcement was made at the Amphion Forum security conference taking place today and tomorrow in San Francisco.
The charter members of the MAS Working Group are among the most recognized names in the technology industry. They include Mocana, SAP, FireEye, McAfee and Wind River. Statements of support for the new initiative from these charter members follow:
“The MAS working group hopes to fill a gaping void in the IoT ecosystem. As an industry, we need to be able to deliver easier, more cost-effective end-to-end security for apps and devices on a truly massive scale.”
“No one can really do that today. And we need more open information exchange about the security posture of device and apps, information that crosses traditional corporate or national boundaries, in order for the Internet of Things to realize its potential,” said James Blaisdell, chief technology officer at Mocana.
“We look forward to contributing our security expertise and working with the other members on these important tasks.”
The MAS working group aims to help its members create solutions that are dramatically easier for users to install, set up and deploy, while automating end-to-end security at scale and cryptographically binding mobile users, apps and devices to enterprise systems at a fraction of the cost of current approaches.
“Mobility is a critical driving force behind innovations and emergent technologies,” said Chenxi Wang, PhD, vice president of market intelligence for McAfee.
“Therefore it is absolutely necessary for the industry to come together and establish a strong common foundation for mobile app security. We look forward to playing a strong role in driving forward the goals of MAS, and helping advance the state-of-the-art in this market.”
“Enterprise, government and end users all need better security options for their mobile apps,” said Manish Gupta, senior vice president of products at FireEye.
“There is a need for an open, impartial and thought-leading association of organizations to promote security and to assume a role not unlike that of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and publish the equivalent of their crashworthiness ratings for mobile apps. That’s why FireEye has joined the MAS working group.”
“Mocana is excited to be a part of MAS,” said Allen Brenner, chief product officer at Mocana. “Mocana believes this collaboration will provide a stronger foundation for the rapid growth of trusted apps across the Internet of Things by building cross-industry relationships, fostering awareness, driving public policy, sharing best-practices and generally advancing the state of the art.”
“SAP is excited to be a part of the MAS Working Group and sharing our expertise with the other members to help improve mobile app security for everyone,” said Anthony Reynolds, COO of Global Solutions for SAP. “We look forward to participating with MAS in the study and publication of vendor-neutral best-practices for app security, with an eye towards unifying security approaches across all kind of devices across the Internet of things, from smartphones to smart grids and beyond.”
“The challenges of securing mobile apps continue to evolve every day, and as an integral player in the security ecosystem, it is Wind River’s responsibility to help inform and educate our customers and the market on the importance of mobile security,” said AJ Shipley, chief security architect at Wind River.
“We are pleased to be collaborating with industry leaders through initiatives like MAS to share and promote the use of security best practices in today’s IoT landscape.”
“The members of MAS all agree that collaboration is the best way to advance cross-platform app security and grow the market faster,” said Kurt Stammberger, CISSP and Amphion Forum Chair. “A lot of it is really about creating the tools and datasets that business buyers need to take more responsibility for their own app security. By hosting the first meetings of the MAS working group, the Amphion Forum hopes to increase awareness of mobile app security issues and accelerate the proliferation of sophisticated security technology throughout the mobile and embedded ecosystem to promote a more secure Internet of Things.”
One of the first things the alliance hopes to accomplish is the establishment of common metrics that enterprise users and IT administrators can employ to compare the security postures of different mobile apps, independent of platform, developer or security vendor.
