It’s Time to Protect Every SIM
by Jon Morgan
Prioritizing security for mobile devices
Today, everyone has phones and multiple Internet of Things (IoT) devices (often many that go overlooked):
Any car that is less than 10 years old has one or more IoT devices connected over cellular.
Planes have many cellular-connected devices to ensure that they operate safely and smoothly.
Healthcare providers and their equipment, like defibrillators and remote health monitors, have IoT devices.
Businesses have dozens of smart, connected things performing all kinds of functions.
And what does that all mean? It means that there are billions of potential vulnerabilities across all devices that employees and IoT devices use to connect to business applications daily.
According to GSMA Intelligence in the 2022 Mobile Economy Report, mobile internet subscribers will grow from 5.3 billion in 2021 to 5.7 billion in 2025. IoT connections will grow from 15.1 billion in 2021 to 23.3 billion in 2025. Some estimates have numbers as high as 50 billion in the next 10 years. That’s a lot of devices — and they should all be protected.
Acquiring opportunities to make life better for billions of people
As a market leader in cybersecurity solutions, Akamai protects applications with web application firewalls and bot management; networks with Prolexic and Edge DNS; and businesses and homes with Secure Internet Access, which leverages DNS and a secure web gateway. But what about the billions of cellular devices out there?
In 2020, Akamai acquired Asavie, whose global platform automates the creation of self-serve networks that provide secure internet access for cellular devices of all kinds, and private access to business applications and data, all without installation and management of client software.
Delivering secure frictionless access to business resources will help enable fully mobile workforces. Since it’s rapidly installable and cloud managed, this clientless architecture will contribute to the transition to secure “office anywhere” environments, especially in the majority of industries in which security has become an important consideration.
Integrating powerful technology to ensure mobile security
The technology that Akamai acquired with Asavie is powerful. It secures and controls any mobile device with a subscriber identity module (SIM). SIMs are at the heart of the billions of cellular devices worldwide. They securely store information about a cellular subscriber's identity, and they hold security keys, which are used to authenticate access to cellular networks.
Akamai technology, embedded in cellular network architectures, allows us to take advantage of SIMs to securely connect mobile devices to our security services, without any client software.
Clientless is powerful, too. Have you ever had problems with the way client-based security interacts with other applications on a phone? Or reduces battery life? Ever try loading a client on an IoT device?
Asavie technology is being integrated with Akamai’s other security solutions — and being equipped with our leading threat intelligence — to provide a secure office anywhere for businesses and government agencies, and secure internet access for consumers.
Akamai will also add new layers of security to enterprise security solutions, application visibility, and control through Asavie technology integration with its cloud secure web gateway.
The benefits of protecting mobile devices
Businesses, governmental agencies, universities, schools, and even families can stop malware, phishing, and malicious content before it gets to devices. Organizations can more readily work to align their mobile estates with security regulatory strategies.
IT teams get many other benefits with visibility into real time threat and internet activity — essential data to enable better decision-making about protecting valuable mobile devices. The teams can show the effectiveness of usage policies and the main drivers of data usage with mobile data insights.
The advantages extend to compliance and productivity, too. Acceptable use policies can be configured to manage access to 165 categories of websites that cover more than 1 billion domains. Families can get parental controls that are effortless to use, and always updated with the latest filters.
To fulfill the vision of secure office anywhere for businesses and government agencies, and to provide secure internet access for families, Asavie technology is equipped with Akamai’s leading threat intelligence. It’s also being integrated with Akamai’s enterprise security solutions. We’re adding new layers of security (up to L7) and better application visibility and control through integration with our cloud secure web gateway.
Tapping into new markets
Vehicles are the most mobile devices we know. The connected vehicle market is a $40 billion industry. Government, defense, manufacturing and natural resources, healthcare, and transportation adds another $10 billion to that total, along with 9 billion consumer devices — with their own security imperatives.
Gain security, visibility, and control
Akamai mobile security services, delivered with mobile network operator (MNO) partners, are designed to help organizations become digitally secure and productively connected wherever mobile users and IoT devices are.
Businesses get clientless architecture, security, visibility, and control for everything with a SIM. Devices can be enrolled at any scale with minimum effort and disruption, without the need for cumbersome hardware or client software.
This is just the beginning. Akamai protects devices with SIMs today, and will continue to innovate to add more defenses and other security solution services.
Learn more about Akamai’s mobile security services
If you’re an MNO or an enterprise looking for mobile device defenses, learn more here, or reach out to our field teams.
