Addressing Mobility Challenges with the Next-Generation Firewall

There’s no question that mobility is changing the way that people live and work. Smartphones and tablets are becoming extensions of one’s lifestyle, with people developing deep affinities for the platform of their choice. As a result, there is a growing trend for individuals to make their own choices about the device they want to use for both business and personal reasons.

In the past, users used to pick their mobile platform from a menu of choices approved by the company. Today, users are ordering off the menu, choosing devices that may or may not have been evaluated for use by the IT department. IT security teams are now faced with the challenge of how to let users use their device of choice while maintaining protection of the data.

There are many approaches towards mobile security on the market, ranging from containers, virtual desktops, and mobile device management platforms. Each of these technologies has use cases which are applicable in certain situations, but in addition, each of them also have limitations as well. What’s missing is the use of network security to provide comprehensive protection and enforcement of policy.

The network is optimally situated between users, applications and devices, and thus it’s in the optimal location to enforce policy. A mobile solution must be able to bring users to the network, and then implement security controls on what they may do.

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe that the combination of the next-generation firewall, GlobalProtect and products from our technology partners are the proper components for providing network security for mobile devices across the full range of use cases. With the introduction of GlobalProtect for iOS, organizations can extend the protection of the next-generation firewall to iPhones, iPads and iPods. This solution allows organizations to protect the traffic, protect the data, and ensure that the device is ok for use in the corporate environment. These measures allow the network to provide safe enablement of mobile devices while providing the level of security that the IT organization needs.

I encourage you to visit the Mobility Solution page to find out more. In addition, our CEO, Mark McLaughlin, recently appeared on Fox Business and discussed mobility trends as well. If you are concerned about how to safely enable mobile devices, I encourage you to take a deeper dive in what Palo Alto Networks can do for you.