Microsoft finds that mobile threat defense and intelligence are now critical part of cyber defense

When handled and analyzed properly, actionable data holds the key to enabling solid, 360-degree cybersecurity strategies and responses. However, many corporations lack effective tools to collect, analyze, and act on the massive volume of security events that arise daily across their mobile fleet. An international bank recently faced this challenge. 

By deploying Pradeo Security alongside Microsoft Endpoint Manager and Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), the bank was able to harness its mobile data and better protect the company.

Organizations rely on mobility to increase productivity and improve the customer experience. But the proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices has also expanded the attack surface of roughly 5 billion mobile devices in the world, many used to handle sensitive corporate data. To safeguard company assets, organizations need to augment their global cyber defense strategy with mobile threat intelligence.

In 2017, the Chief Information Security Office (CISO) of an international bank recognized that the company needed to address the risk of data exposure on mobile. Cybercriminals exploit smart phones at the application, network, and OS levels, and infiltrate them through mobile applications 78 percent of the time. 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was also scheduled to go into effect the following year. The company needed to better secure its mobile data to safeguard the company and comply with the new privacy regulations.

The company deployed Microsoft Endpoint Manager to gain visibility into the mobile devices accessing corporate resources. Microsoft Endpoint Manager is the recently announced convergence of Microsoft Intune and Configuration Manager functionality and data, plus new intelligent actions, offering seamless, unified endpoint management. Then, to ensure the protection of these corporate resources, the company deployed Pradeo Security Mobile Threat Defense, which is integrated with Microsoft.

Pradeo Security and Microsoft Endpoint Manager work together to apply conditional access policies to each mobile session. Conditional access policies allow the security team to automate access based on the circumstances. For example, if a user tries to gain access using a device that is not managed by Microsoft Endpoint Manager, the user may be forced to enroll the device. 

Pradeo Security enhances Microsoft Endpoint Manager’s capabilities by providing a clear security status of any mobile devices accessing corporate data, which Microsoft can evaluate for risk. If a smartphone is identified as non-compliant based on the data that Pradeo provides, conditional access policies can be applied.

For example, if the risk is high, the bank could set policies that block access. The highly granular and customizable security policies offered by Pradeo Security gave the CISO more confidence that the mobile fleet was better protected against threats specifically targeting his industry.

The bank also connected Pradeo Security to Microsoft Defender ATP in order to automatically feed it with always current mobile security inputs. Microsoft Defender ATP helps enterprises prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to advanced cyberthreats. Pradeo Security enriches Microsoft Defender ATP with mobile security intelligence. 

Immediately, the bank was able to see information on the latest threats targeting their mobile fleet. Only a few weeks later, there was enough data in the Microsoft platform to draw trends and get a clear understanding of the company’s mobile threat environment.

Pradeo relies on a network of millions of devices (iOS and Android) across the globe to collect security events related to the most current mobile threats. Pradeo leverages machine learning mechanisms to distill and classify billions of raw and anonymous security facts into actionable mobile threat intelligence.

The bank’s mobile ecosystem entirely relies on Pradeo and Microsoft, as its security team finds it to be the most cost-effective combination when it comes to mobile device management, protection and intelligence.

ATP A600Si/A600Sc SATA SSDs deliver MCU design for enhanced power management and PLP capabilities

ATP Electronics unveiled Tuesday its next-generation A600Si and A600Sc Serial ATA solid state drives (SATA SSDs) featuring a completely new design of the power loss protection (PLP) array, which utilizes a new power management IC (PMIC) and new firmware-programmable MCU (microcontroller unit). 

Integrated into its latest PLP technology, ATP PowerProtector 4, the new MCU design allows the PLP array to perform intelligently in various temperatures, power glitches and charge states.

ATP SATA SSDs with the new PowerProtector 4 MCU-based design provide enhanced device protection that suppresses power-up inrush current according to customer request and input over-voltage protection to prevent damage to the SSD circuitry. It delivers improved data integrity using input power noise de-glitch to prevent incorrect cache flushing caused by false triggers such as noisy or unstable host input voltage, and under-charge/over-charge protection for hold-up power capacitors.

It also provides fast power on/off control that cuts time required from power-off to re-power on the SSD;  precise control of reset signal generation and power up/down sequences prevents potential issues in the power up/down of the SSD; and industrial operating temperature support ensures reliable operation in extreme environments from ‑40°C to 85°C. 

As components perform and react differently in severely cold or hot scenarios, ATP PowerProtector 4 ensures reliable PLP capacitance in all states of cold start, hot temperature workload, and cross temperature.

With this line of SSDs, users get access to RAID support that ensures redundancy and fault tolerance to prevent data loss in the event of a drive failure; end-to-end data protection prevents unauthorized access to data while it is being transferred from one storage device to another; and customization options, as the new MCU-based design allows PLP capabilities to be tailor-fitted according to unique customer requirements, application-specific needs, or use cases.

"Superior power loss protection is essential in any embedded/industrial application. But not all PLPs are equal," said Marco Mezger, ATP vice president of global marketing. "By implementing this type of MCU design, we are able to showcase our engineering expertise and nearly 30-year experience in the design and manufacture of storage devices for wide temperature environments, particularly for compact form factors in embedded/industrial applications. We continue to blaze the trail, as we were also the first to design and release smaller form factor SSDs such as eUSB and M.2 2242 with an onboard PLP array."

The next-generation ATP SATA SSDs with the new MCU-based design include mSATA, 2.5-inch SSDs and M.2 2242/2280 modules. Available with I-Temp (A600Si) and C-Temp (A600Sc) support, the SSDs come in the following capacities — M.2 2280: 120 to 960 GB; M.2 2242 and mSATA: 120 to 480 GB; 2.5": 120 GB to 1.92 TB.