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Cisco announces new Security Connector app for managing enterprise iOS devices

As Apple continues to plan an increasingly big role in the enterprise market, Cisco today announced a new Security Connector app for iOS. Apple and Cisco originally forged a partnership back in 2015 with the goal of creating a “fast lane” for enterprise customers…

The new Cisco Security Connector app for iOS aims to give enterprise users more control over the devices in use in their organization. Cisco explains that the app helps ensure compliance during incident investigations, adds a layer of protection for organizational devices, and more.

Cisco says that despite the new features available for businesses, there’s no negative impact to the iOS experience for employees:

  • Visibility: Helped ensure compliance of mobile users and their enterprise-owned iOS devices during incident investigations by rapidly identifying what happened, whom it affected, and the risk exposure.
  • Control: Protected iPhone and iPad users from connecting to malicious sites on the Internet, whether on the corporate network, public Wi-Fi, or cellular networks.
  • Zero negative impact to employees’ mobile experiences.

When Tim Cook and Cisco CEO John Chambers announced the partnership between their companies, they explained that the goal was to deliver “experiences specially optimized for iOS across mobile, cloud, and premises-based collaboration tools.”

In addition to the Cisco partnership, Apple is also working closely with IBM and SAP on enterprise efforts.

The full press release for the Cisco Security Connector app is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alEcihS7FOQ

Cisco Releases Security Connector App for iOS

Cisco customers achieve increased visibility and control for iOS devices

SAN JOSE, CA–(Marketwired – Dec 14, 2017) – Today, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) announces the availability of Cisco® Security Connector, the first security app designed to give enterprises the deepest visibility and control over network activity on iOS devices, now in the App Store.

Apple has designed iOS to be secure from the ground up and to be simple, intuitive, and powerful for users. By using iPhones and iPads with iOS 11 and Cisco Security Connector, customers can view and control network activity and gain insight into traffic generated by users, applications and devices.

Several key Cisco customers trialed the Cisco Security Connector app. They reported benefits such as:

  • Visibility: Helped ensure compliance of mobile users and their enterprise-owned iOS devices during incident investigations by rapidly identifying what happened, whom it affected, and the risk exposure.
  • Control: Protected iPhone and iPad users from connecting to malicious sites on the Internet, whether on the corporate network, public Wi-Fi, or cellular networks.
  • Zero negative impact to employees’ mobile experiences.

Workers and organizations are embracing the mobile workplace, with more than 70 percent1of organizations providing enterprise-issued tablets and smartphones. Organizations require visibility into what is happening with the corporate data on their devices to meet risk and compliance needs.

Cisco developed the Cisco Security Connector app on iOS 11 to offer organizations fine-grained visibility into network access on enterprise-managed iOS devices. It offers security functionality from Cisco Umbrella™ and Cisco Clarity in a single app. It can be deployed on enterprise-managed iOS devices using a mobile device management (MDM) solution such as the Cisco Meraki™ Systems Manager.

“Ransomware and malware are spreading across the Internet and increasingly targeting mobile devices. Together with Apple, we are helping enterprises become the most connected, collaborative, and secure businesses in the world,” said David Ulevitch, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco’s Security Business Group. “With this app, we want to provide businesses with tools to meet their security, risk, and compliance requirements.”

Supporting quotes from Cisco beta customers:

  • “As one of the first enterprises in Germany to implement the first wave of Apple and Cisco solutions, we are pleased to adopt within our company and offer to our customers the next wave of Cisco’s innovation with Apple — the Cisco Security Connector app for iOS,” said Werner Schwarz, Vice President of Competence Center Security, Network, Communication and Smart Solutions, Cancom GmbH. “The application was easy to implement and allowed us to add another layer of cloud security.”
  • “Our employees rely on their mobile devices to stay productive and to connect with customers. Unfortunately, every day mobile Internet threats are growing more complex, and so do the technologies to combat them,” said Mike McGlynn, vice president of Security Solutions, WWT. “Cisco’s new Security Connector app effectively brought us the same visibility into iOS as a desktop. We were able to operationalize Cisco Umbrella data simply. This new mobile application offers us a way to stay ahead and address these challenges.”

The Cisco Security Connector app is now available to download in the App Store, and by contacting your local Cisco partner or account manager. For more information about how Cisco and Apple are accelerating mobile transformation in security, collaboration, and networking, visit www.cisco.com/go/apple.

Additional resources:

1 Cisco Solutions for Secure Mobile Devices.

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that has been making the Internet work since 1984. Our people, products, and partners help society securely connect and seize tomorrow’s digital opportunity today. Discover more at newsroom.cisco.com and follow us on Twitter at @Cisco.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

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