Hardware-based mobile security market heats up

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

The market for hardware-rooted security for mobile devices is on the rise as anti-virus and other traditional software methods fail to meet tougher requirements from government and security-sensitive businesses.

Cybersecurity solutions are introduced most often  as software implementations, but these can be inadequate for meeting the core requirements of government agencies and other security-sensitive organizations.

That weakness, according to ABI Research, is what will push hardware-based security for mobile devices this year to a $1 billion market.

Mobile device security is a big issue for government, as agencies struggle with how to make access to data and services from those devices easier. They know the movement to mobile is inevitable, but how to make that access secure is what has held back a full-blown migration in government.

Software-based security offered through anti-virus or anti-theft apps, or the increasingly popular use of virtualization technologies to manage security in isolated environments, do not provide the level of security required in government or the financial sector, said Michela Menting, ABI’s senior analyst in cybersecurity.

“Further, existing security mechanisms that could offer better security are simply not appropriate for the mobile environment,” she said. “Those that are commonly used for PCs cannot be supported due to different hardware architectures, and because of limited resources of such things as the CPU, memory and battery.”

That’s also what the National Institute of Standards and Technology stressed in its recent guidance on hardware-based mobile security, Guidelines on Hardware-Rooted Security in Mobile Devices.  Many mobile devices are not capable of providing strong security assurances because they lack hardware-based roots of trust that are increasingly built into laptops and other hosts, it said.

“Mobile devices are also vulnerable to ‘jailbreaking’ and ‘rooting,’ which provide device owners with greater flexibility over the devices (but that) also bypass important security features which may produce new vulnerabilities,” it said.

In one of its main recommendations, NIST proposed that mobile devices contain roots-of-trust security to provide a set of trusted functions and that “hardware RoTs are preferred over software RoTs due to their immutability, smaller attack surface and more reliable behavior.”

However, there are still a number of obstacles to the full emergence of a mobile hardware security market, Menting said. Not the least of those is the fact that silicon IP companies such as ARM, Trustonic JV and Samsung are taking different approaches to security, and these are clashing with approaches that major software vendors such as Intel and Microsoft are pushing.

For example, Menting said, Trustonic’s TrustZone is being incorporated into ARM’s new processor design — and ARM’s designs are a part of almost every smartphone — but chip companies that use the design have to pay an upfront license fee to gain access and also pay a royalty on each chip sold.

Therefore, even once the device is bought, additional efforts need to be made to activate the secure zone element, essentially making it a closed environment.
Meanwhile, Intel and Microsoft are taking an alternate approach, which is a standards-based focus around the UEFI/TPM (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface/Trusted Platform Module) specification.

UEFI is a new opportunity for pre-boot firmware on ARM-based systems, Menting said, since it’s a good fit with ARM’s recommendation of a generic secure firmware for TrustZone.

But UEFI/TPM is more popular at the moment with tablets and ultra books than with smartphones, she said, adding that Intel and Microsoft “are not making much inroad at the moment with smartphone OEMs. By forcing the use of UEFI in all Windows 8 devices, it seems Microsoft is driving away any chance of Android interest.”

Nevertheless, Menting said, the hardware-based security market is clearly emerging.  Whether through RoTs, trusted execution environments, virtualization or kernel-based security technology, all vendors are seeking to offer security at the core in order to integrate the operating systems and other mobile-based applications.

Hardware-based mobile security was worth just $661 million at the end of 2013, Menting said, some 20 percent of the total global mobile security market. That percentage will go down slightly by 2018, to 17 percent, but overall it will still be worth $2.3 billion.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.