Norton Mobile Security aims to lock down on Android device theft

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Google's Android smartphone OS is gaining popularity not just in a variety of smartphones but also on an upcoming bunch of next generation tablets. While consumer and companies focus on the features and capabilities of these mobile connected devices, it is easy to miss their potential as targets of theft, malware and viruses. Understanding this threat, Norton's Mobile Security app for Android provides users a suite of programs designed to protect these new devices and more importantly, the information within them, from theft and malware.

We spoke with Mark Kanok, Senior Product Manager, Symantec Corp who discussed the Norton Everywhere initiative and the move to offer security to all PC's and mobile devices. Kanok explained that with the new breed of smartphones and tablets on the Android platform, users have a vast number of applications available but a number of these access and track personal information. 

As smartphones take on a larger part of the market increase loss and theft are inevitable. Norton Mobile Security can enable a remote locate feature that once activated sends the user the device's last known GPS coordinates as well as a link to a Google Maps page. Retreivable smartphones and tablets can be monitored on a map. But in the event that these are no longer retreivable, users still have the option to render them useless.

"What happens when these expensive smartphones are lost or stolen and the valuable data within them is exposed? With Norton Mobile security, users can send a text message to lock and wipe their Android smartphones or tablets remotely," Kanok adds that a successful lock and wipe will generate an SMS message to the user to confirm that their device is now rendered unusable.

Norton Mobile Security is currently in beta and available at the Android Market and automatically resizes its screen resolution to work on Android smartphones or the Samsung Galaxy Tab (currently the only Android based tablet available in the market). Kanok mentioned that Norton hopes to offer solutions for other smartphone platforms although he did not specify which other ones would be supported.