By Dana Katz, Head of Product Marketing, Threat Prevention

The highly-anticipated 2021 Market Guide for Mobile Threat Defense was recently published by Gartner®. This report outlines the latest Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) market trends. The research is a great resource for understanding how security professionals can address their goal of securing the remote workforce.

Check Point Harmony Mobile (formerly SandBlast Mobile) is proud to be recognized as a Representative Vendor twice; for All-Round Mobile Threat Defense Capabilities and for offering Mobile Security Capabilities as Part of an EPP or UES Offering.

Gartner® recently released its 2021 Market Guide for Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) covering the latest trends on the market. The report is a great resource for understanding how security professionals can address their goal of securing the remote workforce.

Check Point Harmony Mobile (formerly SandBlast Mobile) is proud to be recognized as a Representative Vendor in this Market Guide twice – for All-Round Mobile Threat Defense Capabilities and for offering Mobile Security Capabilities as Part of an EPP or UES Offering.

The Market Guide emphasizes the importance of deploying MTD solutions stating that “security and risk management leaders who need to strengthen their mobile security posture should adopt MTD products to improve their overall security hygiene”.

The report provides insights into:

  • How MTD solution fits into entire security architecture
  • How to better defend against modern mobile malware, network attacks, and mobile phishing
  • What baseline capabilities are critical for enterprise mobile security solutions

Here are some of the highlights of the report:

MTD market keeps growing

According to Gartner, “The MTD market is relatively small, compared with other endpoint security markets such as the EPP market, but it continues to grow, predominantly in regulated and high-security sectors. Gartner estimates that the MTD market reached $350 million in 2020.”

Gartner further says, that “by 2025 more than half of organizations in regulated industries will have a security solution for both iOS and Android devices”.

MTD solutions should offer protections beyond what the UEM tools can offer

In order to be effective against the modern-day mobile threats, the MTD solutions should provide protections across multiple attack vectors: on the device, network and application levels.

To do so, according to the 2021 Market Guide for Mobile Threat Defense (MTD), MTD products need to use a variety of techniques, including machine learning and behavioral analysis, and leverage “threat intelligence from the devices they support as well as from external sources, and use an analysis engine that resides in the cloud, on-premises or on an MTD app installed on the devices”. Figure 1 below, provided in the report, illustrates MTD functionality, and how it relates to UEM tools.

Check Point Harmony Mobile is doing exactly that being designed to protect corporate data across all mobile attack surfaces, leveraging the power of Check Point’s threat prevention engines and fueled by Check Point ThreatCloud™, the world’s most powerful threat intelligence knowledge base.

Figure 1. Mobile Threat Defense Functionality Compared with that of Unified Endpoint Management. Gartner Market Guide for Mobile Threat Defense 2021

Proactive measures like app vetting are now essential components of the MTD solutions

Per Gartner, “Enterprises that derive value from MTD do so by implementing security hygiene using proactive measures, such as app vetting and device vulnerability management, rather than the ability to detect and counter advanced attacks.”

Gartner further says, “App vetting is the analysis of apps to identify not just malicious ones but also, more importantly, those that conflict with organizational requirements”.

Check Point Harmony Mobile remains fully aligned with this trend. The solution expands mobile application deployment security by giving administrators an application vetting service, allowing them to upload or link applications (Android or iOS) into the Harmony Mobile Dashboard and receive a full app analysis report within a few minutes.

A new use case of MTD becoming a part of a UES or an XDR system

As stated in the report, the case of MTD becoming a part of a larger unified endpoint security infrastructure is gaining traction (see figure 2 below): “We are increasingly observing endpoint security vendors that offer endpoint detection and response (EDR) extend support to iOS and Android, either on their own or in partnership with vendors of MTD solutions. Adding visibility for mobile devices, UES and XDR solutions can improve detection and identify lateral movement… …The UES framework takes XDR and the following use case of ZTNA and provides cross-platform support for both”.

Earlier this year, here in Check Point Software, we introduced Check Point Harmony product suite, the industry’s first unified security solution for users, devices, and access.

Check Point Harmony Mobile is one of six products consolidated to provide uncompromised security and simplicity for everyone via the Harmony product suite. Check Point Harmony delivers the highest level of security for remote users in a single solution that is easy to use, manage and buy. The solution protects remote devices and internet connections from the most sophisticated attacks while ensuring Zero-Trust Access to corporate applications – all in a single solution that is easy to use, manage and buy.

Figure 2. XDR Implementation with Support for iOS and Android via an MTD Solution. Gartner Market Guide for Mobile Threat Defense 2021

Key recommendations

Gartner® key recommendations for security and IT leaders as outlined in the 2021 Market Guide for Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) include:

  • “Prioritizing MTD adoption in high-security and regulated sectors and in organizations with large or fragmented Android device fleets.
  • Establishing a security baseline for mobile devices before investing in MTD products, and using these products’ app vetting and device vulnerability management features to demonstrate immediate benefits, rather than expect them to counter advanced malicious threats or uncover major breaches.
  • Integrating MTD with incumbent unified endpoint management (UEM) tools – favoring the app-based option over the proxy-based deployment for corporate-owned business-only (COBO) scenarios.
  • Using MTD products to protect enterprise infrastructure where BYOD policies are in operation and for other use cases in which devices must stay unmanaged.”

Why Check Point Harmony Mobile

Check Point Harmony Mobile – a Representative Vendor in the 2021 Market Guide for Mobile Threat Defense – keeps corporate data safe by securing employees’ mobile devices across all attack vectors: apps, networks, device, and OS vulnerabilities. Designed to reduce admins’ overhead and increase user adoption, it perfectly fits into your existing mobile environment, deploys and scales quickly, and protects devices without impacting user experience nor privacy.

Discover all the capabilities of Check Point Harmony Mobile by yourself, or schedule a personalized demo to see it in action.

Part of Check Point Harmony: a unified solution for users & access

Harmony Mobile is part of Check Point Harmony, the industry’s first unified security solution for users, devices and access. Harmony consolidates six security products to protect devices and internet connections from the most sophisticated attacks while ensuring Zero-Trust Access to corporate applications; all in a single solution that is easy to use, manage and buy.

In addition to Gartner® recognition, Check Point Harmony Mobile was recently named a Market Leader in 2021 Omdia’s Market Radar Mobile Security Management Solutions Report while maintaining its Leader status in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Mobile Threat Management Software for three consecutive years, and acknowledged as one of the leading products in the 2021 CRN Mobile 100 list.

Gartner, Market Guide for Mobile Threat Defense, 29 March 2021, Dionisio Zumerle, Rob Smith
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