F-Secure makes new WinMo security move

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 17 June 2009 14:03

Business IT - Technology

F-Secure promises that, despite offering a pretty complete sounding package, its application is still “easy to install and smooth to use without affecting the smartphone’s performance.”

In addition, F-Secure note that the software is “designed to operate transparently in the background, conserving disc space and minimising memory and battery use.”

Although anti-virus, a firewall and anti-spyware software are very important, F-Secure Mobile Security also has that handy “remote wipe” capability.

This is important when you consider F-Secure’s stats which indicate that “each year more than 200,000 mobile phones are reported lost or stolen in Australia” and that this “equates to 4,000 each week or one mobile handset every three minutes.”

F-Securec continues, saying “At the same time, more and more people and businesses are using sophisticated smartphones that contain highly confidential messages and pictures, banking details, e-mails and business projects. Protecting smartphones against loss and infection by mobile malware is therefore more important than ever.”

But it’s not just remote-wipe that has Windows Mobile users intrigued, but also the ability to remote lock a phone too, making life that much harder for those who like to steal our much beloved mobile devices.

F-Secure explains: “The remote lock can be used to lock the device to protect confidential information quickly and easily with a single SMS message. The theft control feature activates when the SIM card is changed by locking the device. As an ultimate safety measure to prevent misuse, it is possible to erase all the data on the phone with the remote wipe by sending an SMS message.”

F-Secure isn’t the first to being remote wipe capabilities to smartphones – Blackerry and Windows Mobile corporate users have had it for years, while even the iPhone will wipe your password after ten mistaken tries.

However making remote wipe available to a wide range of WM 5/6 and iPhone owners but opening it up to any Symbian or WinMo gives plenty more people who live on their phones that extra choice – and chance to delete any important data from a stolen phone without needing to hassle IT stuff.

Indi Siriniwasa, Sales Director, F-Secure Australia and New Zealand, said that: “Losing the personal and confidential data on a smartphone is a security issue for the phone's owner. By adding the antitheft feature to F-Secure Mobile Security we wanted to provide an easy and fast way to remote lock and wipe a phone in case it is lost or stolen. Antitheft is natural addition to our Mobile Security solution, which is already known of its award winning anti-virus and firewall features.”

For more info at F-Secure’s site, click here, but a quick note to whoever is looking after www.f-secure.com.au: update your home page so it isn’t still offering your Internet Security 2008 package...

The “products” page of the F-Secure site properly lists the 2009 desktop/laptop version of F-Secure, and the US version of the site has no such issues that I’m aware of.

Until then, whether you’re paranoid that “they” really are out to get you or you might pick up something you wish you hadn’t, F-Secure’s new WM 5/6 and presumably 6.1 version is giving Windows Mobile users an extra, non-Microsoft level of security, while already available for many Nokia users.

I wonder how long it’ll be before an "F-Secure for iPhone" will become available, too - or if it won't be needed for some time yet!