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BlackBerry CEO says Samsung phones not secure for enterprise use

BlackBerry CEO says Samsung phones not secure for enterprise use

By Anupam Saxena | Updated: 25 March 2013 15:33 IST

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins is at it again. After criticising Apple's mobile operating system on more than one occasion, he's now firing salvos at Samsung, the other leading smartphone maker. Heins has said that Samsung's smartphones would never be able to offer top-notch platinum security because of Android, which is an open operating system.

In an interview with online publication, CNET, Heins said that Android was susceptible to malware attacks , while BlackBerry 10 was designed to be secure.

"You don't know how many keys you've given to the main door of your house because it's open software," said Heins. "So what are you trying to do? You're locking the windows."

BlackBerry has been touting its security features as a big deal and recently it had even stated that it intended to offer technology to separate and make secure both work and personal data on mobile devices powered by Android and iOS operating systems.

In response to Heins' comment, Tim Wagner, vice president of enterprise sales for Samsung said that the company was committed and was investing significantly to ensure that its devices can be used securely for both work and play. He also said that SAFE with Knox, the company's enterprise security (Bring your own device) solution, will ship with the Galaxy S4 in the second quarter.

Samsung had announced SAFE(Samsung for Enterprise) with Knox, a dual-workspace solution in February.

As per the cmpany Knox incorporates Security Enhanced (SE) Android developed by NSA (National Security Agency),and integrity management services implemented in both hardware and the Android framework. At the application layer, KNOX offers a container solution that separates business and personal use of a mobile device. In a phone's business persona, an office worker can use apps approved and monitored by the I.T. department. The worker can switch to a personal persona, where personal photos, games and calendar are stored, which cannot be seen by I.T. If the employee were to leave the company and keep the phone, the I.T manager can erase the data from the business persona, leaving the personal data untouched.

Samsung had said that due to the openness of the platform, businesses could tailor their phone's software and also better manage the corporate fleet of phones.

Samsung had said that KNOX would be commercially available in selected Samsung GALAXY devices from Q2 2013 onwards. It's in a way similar to BlackBerry Balance, BlackBerry's enterprise solution.

It remains to be seen if BlackBerry will be able to retain the crown of the most secure mobile platform in enterprise with Samsung posing as a serious challenger.

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Further reading: Android, Android mobiles, BlackBerry, BlackBerry 10, BlackBerry Z10, BlackBerry mobiles, Samsung, Samsung mobiles, Thorston Heins, Z10, enterprise

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