Samsung Galaxy S5 First Device to Get Samsung's BYOD-friendly Knox 2.0 Suite

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For all of the IT folks interested in Samsung's Knox security suite, you will be intrigued to know that Samsung has released their newest version of it. Knox Security Suite Version 2.0 was just released for the Samsung Galaxy S5. Although that is the first device to showcase the new Knox, it won't be the only one. The security platform is still a BYOD project, although it has its limits right now. There are a number of new features which make this version superior to the first version. Here's a quote with some of the details,

Some of the new features in the upgraded version are a dedicated app store called Marketplace, cloud-based management, and certificate management functionality that can turn a smartphone into a smartcard.

The platform is also compatible with third party containers, such as Good’s secure container, Fixmo’s SafeZone, and MobileIron’s AppConnect, which are getting the same level of hardware-based protection as Samsung’s own container. The goal is to give IT departments more choice when they implement or augment their BYOD programs, Samsung said.

To separate personal and professional usage on a BYOD smartphone, a new billing feature lets carriers calculate the costs for personal and professional apps, according to Samsung.

There are still some kinks to work out in the service. For example, Knox is tightly integrated with the Fingerprint Scanner on the Galaxy S5, but this is a double-edged sword as it has been shown that the fingerprint scanner on the SGS5 can be fooled with fakes. Ultimately, this is a minor risk as the steps to make this work are typically not worth the effort for a would-be thief.

Regardless of the issues, it's great to see innovation in this area continue to push forward. Security for our mobile devices is a hot topic these days and will only continue to become more important in the future.

Thanks for the tip!

Source: PCWorld