Vodafone partners with McAfee for $3 mobile security

Brenton Currie
Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:47

Your IT - Mobility

Vodafone has recently teamed up with the security vendor, McAfee, to offer a protection service for the telco's Android phone customers.

McAffee Security for Android (Credit: Vodafone)

The monthly subscription-based security application, called 'McAfee Mobile Security' has been designed for selected Android smartphones that utilise versions 2.1 to 3.0 operating systems (OS).

For now, the service is available on Vodafone's website for $3 per month with the first month fee not being applicable for customers to pay. The app will go live and be available for its Three customers on February 6.

The features within this new app include a device lock, data backup, location tracker and anti-virus software. Additionally the app will protect against the potential phishing on websites, browser exploits and malicious quick response (QR) codes. It will also prevent theft or an unauthorised users from bypassing the mobile protection as it will have an uninstall feature within the app.

James Dampney, Vodafone's head of applications said in a statement that the company has focused most of its efforts on the Android operating system because of the growing demand for these particular smartphones. The future prospects will be looking at rolling apps for other operating systems but that, 'we don't have any specific time frame in mind at the moment but we will consider other operating systems in the future.'

Rival telco Optus also offers customers a mobile security solution although neither work on Apple's iPhone which holds a large market share of the smartphone market due to restrictions placed on the device by Apple.