David Merrill, IBM at Juniper Press Conf - Juniper Mobile Security Suite Launch 2010 - theCUBE
Channel: SiliconANGLE theCUBE
Date: 2012-04-27

John Furrier, founder of SiliconANGLE.com, sits down with David Merrill of IBM at the recent Juniper Networks press event where Juniper launched their Mobile Security Suite in SF on October 26, 2010.



With the launch of Juniper Networks Mobile Security Suite, partner IBM showed their support at the Juniper press conference. David Merrill, a Strategist in the Chief Information Security Office at IBM, sat down with SiliconANGLE's John Furrier to explain IBM's take on mobile security and their role in the development of the software.

With everything gone mobile, life has become very digital. Juniper Networks slogan is "Defending Your Life", defending your digital life. Furrier asks the IBM representative, "What's your view of the current landscape right now relative to mobility and security? What's going on in the market?" Merrill responds that there is a desire for employees to have their office and all of their data in their pockets. And the focus is on how to secure and control that data. The right data types must be concluded; so that when you marry the data to a smart phone, the right security controls will be matched.

Furrier goes on to question if data is really a central theme for the mobile worker. Merrill explains two models of why data remains key. One is of the virtual desktop approach where the data stays in the enterprise, and is retrieved from the data center and not on the mobile device itself. But "what excites employees is being able to actually do some of their enterprising computing functions on the smart phone". And data directly on the smart phone will lead to vulnerabilities and will have to be protected.

IBM recently acquired a virtualized storage system called Storwize, which features real time data compression. User data is important for privacy and application support in real time. Furrier wonders what the security dangers and risks are of having such open access to data. Merrill reiterates that it depends on the different types of data; different classifications of data will have specific controls. For example, with personal, sensitive data, IE: federally regulated data, very specific requirements are needed to control that data. "It's this migration of not one size fits all anymore, each phone doesn't need to be secured the same exact way."

Merrill concludes with his three year relationship with Juniper, starting with him being accused of trying to solve a problem that didn't exist. Merrill was strong in his convictions. "It was pretty evident to me that as we looked at the threat landscape that if smart phones became the primary computing device, the threat landscape would follow." Merrill wanted to be ready and not wait for threats to prophecize. He mentions how even back then, when they were testing the security of the mobile phones, he was able to find malware in the devices.