RSA 2012: Symantec Bets on Cloud, Mobile, and Virtualization Security

Symantec had a host of security-related news to share at RSAlast week, but that wasn't all. The security solution giant released afair amount of mobile security news at the Mobile World Congress (MWC)in Barcelona during the same period. Symantec's raft of announcementslargely fell into four categories: Cloud security with Symantec O3Cloud Identity and Access Control; mobile security with a number ofmobile-focused apps, services, and updates; enhanced integration with VMware virtualization and cloud products; and a partnership with the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) that will see Symantec developing training products and services for cloud security training. The week before RSA we spoke with Symantec's Dave Elliott, Directorof Global Cloud Marketing, for background on Symantec's announcements.

Symantec O3 Cloud Identity and Access Control
One of the biggest barriers to cloud computing adoption in theenterprise is handling user identity and access in consistent ways.Looking at our own internal IT structure at Penton Media, we rely onseveral cloud-based services, mainly for reporting expenses, bookingtravel, and performing many other necessary (but unglamorous) businesstasks. Each of these services requires a separate username andpassword, which makes it difficult to apply consistent securitypolicies across on-premise and off-premise IT resources.

"Security is consistently identified by enterprises as the topinhibitor to the adoption of cloud computing," says Gartner VP NeilMacDonald. "Since we don’t own or control the infrastructure thatcloud-based services are delivered from, there is an increasing need toinject security policy such as identity mapping, encryption and accesscontrol between users and the cloud-based services they are consuming."

Like several other providers, Symantec now is taking a crack at solvingthat problem with the unveiling of Symantec O3 Cloud Identity andAccess Control. According to Symantec's Elliott, O3 will integrate withan existing on-premise authentication, authorization and passwordmanagement structures, and extend those policies into the cloud.

"One of the key features of Symantec O3 is that it providessingle sign-on for more than 100 external cloud services," Elliottsaid. "We gained a lot of expertise [in cloud-based security] when weacquired services from Verisign...that team knows how to build hostedweb services, and O3 is layered on top of that." Elliott added that O3will also integrate with Symantec's existing Validation and IDProtection Service (VIP), which allows established VPN credentials tobe used in a cloud context.

Symantec Mobile Security Initiatives
Securing mobile devices has been another hot topic for ITprofessionals, and Symantec unveiled a host of new mobile securityefforts at MWC. Symantec's new O3 platform will integrate withSymantec's enterprise mobility platform, and Symantec's new MobileManagement for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager promisesto give users of that platform more mobile security controls andoptions. Other Symantec mobile security announcements included a new Symantec Mobile Security app forAndroid devices and a new data loss prevention (DLP) product fortablets.

Symantec Integration with VMware Products
Symantec also announced a number of new integration points withVMware's cloud and virtualization products, including: Symantec DataLoss Prevention integration with VMware vShield; upcoming VMwarevSphere 5 support for Symantec Critical System Protection; integration between the newSymantec Security Information Manager (SSIM) and VMware's vShield log collector for improved security insight intoVMware virtual machines; improved alignment with VMware security standards in the Symantec Control Compliance Suite; and Symantec's Managed SecurityService (MSS) will soon add support for VMware vShield log management.

Symantec CSA Training Partnership
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) has been advancing thecause of security in the cloud for several years, and that effort took a step forwardwith the news that Symantec and the CSA has partnered to provide sometraining resources for IT professionals. In a statement supporting theannouncement, CSA Executive Director Jim Reavis said that the trainingwill help companies keep their data secure in the more fluid ITenvironment of the cloud.

"The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) believes in the importance of havingstandards and best practices governing cloud security, and that is whywe are pleased to partner with Symantec to deliver training for theCertificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK) exam," Reavis said."This partnership will give IT Security Professionals the knowledge andhands-on experience they need to effectively protect their companies'data in the cloud."

Are you a current Symantec customer? I'd love to hear your feedback onthese new announcements. Just add a comment to this blog post orcontribute to the discussion on Twitter.