Knox receives mobile security certification

Samsung Electronics has received a certificate from the U.S. National Information Assurance Partnership that verifies the stability of its Knox security solution, which is embedded on Samsung smartphones, the company said yesterday.

It is the first time a security solution for mobile phones received the certificate, known as the Mobile Device Fundamentals Protection Profile, from the affiliate of the U.S. National Security Agency, Samsung said.

The certification was established in October 2013 as an international standard for mobile phone security systems and Samsung, Apple, BlackBerry and Motorola participated in drafting it.

Samsung phones with Knox that received the certificate are the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3, which both run Google’s KitKat operating system, the company said. The world’s largest smartphone seller hopes the certificate will strengthen its bid to increase its B2B security solution business. The certificate is recognized in 26 countries, including Korea, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.

The Mobile Device Fundamentals Protection Profile has about 80 handset security requirements such as key management, password module, Wi-Fi security and a screen lock.

“Samsung Knox is focused on providing stronger security to mobile devices,” said Lee In-jong, a senior vice president of Samsung Electronics who is in charge of the company’s Knox business. “We will try to take the mobile ecosystem to the next level by providing a stable security solution that our corporate clients have not experienced so far.”

Samsung unveiled Knox at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. During the 2014 MWC on Tuesday, it unveiled Knox 2.0 on the Galaxy S5, which was unpacked a day earlier. Commercialization of Knox 2.0 is expected to begin in the second quarter.

BY moon gwang-lip [joe@joongang.co.kr]