Purewire just released a new solution for companies looking to secure the web on their BlackBerry devices. It is called the Purewire Web Security Service and they are offering it for a year for free. Purewire is intended to help secure and extend Web usage policies across a BES deployment. Not sure how much of a market there is for this but I have heard of a few companies trying to lock down web access on BlackBerrys.
If a company already has a BES, Purewire promises to:
- Provide integrated URL filtering, anti-virus, anti-malware, application control, and policy management – all without installing any software on the BlackBerry device
- Consolidate reporting across mobile, remote and enterprise users
- Protect your employees browsing the Web no matter where they are in the world.
- Centrally enforce Web usage policies and security controls for individual users on desktops, laptops and BlackBerry devices.
- No hardware to install or maintain, simple integration with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
- Free assistance in setting up matching policies, rules, reports and alerts with your existing Web filtering solution.
RIM only offers simple URL white-listing and black-listing built into the BES so this might be a slight improvement. Personally I can see some people getting really annoyed with their companies locking down their further but I guess it is the companies prerogative to lock down & secure their devices.
If you are curious about how it works this explains it in a nutshell:
The Purewire Web Security Service is deployed as SaaS-based secure Web gateway. Purewire inspects outbound Web traffic for safety and compliance, and analyzes Web site response traffic for malicious programs and untrustworthy users. The Purewire Web Security Service provides high performance processing of Web traffic to protect users browsing the Web regardless of location or device, including laptops and mobile devices.
