Mobile security app from McAfee hits 2.0

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The latest update to McAfee Mobile Security opens a window onto app permissions and gives you a filter to screen out annoying communiques.

McAfee Mobile Security 2.0

McAfee Mobile Security 2.0 (download for Android) arrived in the Android Market three days ago, and brings two new features to its already-robust set of options for Android, BlackBerry, and Symbian users. The new App Protection interprets how apps handle your personal and private data, and tells you whether those app permissions are risky. What it doesn't do is advise you what to do about those risks, but to be fair, none of the other permissions scanners available do, either.

The BlackBerry and Symbian versions will be available soon, according to McAfee. The BlackBerry version is due next Wednesday, although the Symbian version remains unscheduled.

There's also a new call and text-messaging filter that blocks calls and texts, based on a basic blacklist. Input a number, and never hear from it again. Features that have carried over from the previous version include antivirus scanning; anti-spyware and anti-phishing guards; Potentially Unwanted Program protection for preventing commercial spyware, adware, and dialers from taking root; and link scanning courtesy of the McAfee SiteAdvisor engine.

There's also anti-theft guards such as remote device lock, wipe, backup, and restore for securing a lost phone; unauthorized SIM replacement notification; phone locate and tracking; uninstall prevention; and an online management Web site that allows for full interaction with the McAfee interaction.

McAfee Mobile Security is a fairly solid security option for phones and tablets. It's available for free without restrictions for seven days, after which a one-year license will set you back $29.99. While that might sound high for the average app, it's not unusual for security apps. Lookout Mobile Security, for example, costs the same and offers similar features.

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McAfee Mobile 2.0 Moves Beyond Virus Protection

Intel-owned McAfee has released Mobile Security 2.0, which allows users of Android-based smartphones and tablets to keep better track of what applications are up to, the company said on Monday.

Today, many of Android's perceived security weaknesses stem from the openness of Android Market, and the availability of rogue applications.

McAfee has taken that to heart and added a feature called App Alert, which provides information about what applications are doing with users' personal information. Although Android Market already informs users of the phone functions accessed by the apps they download, the list can be long. App Alert specifically checks whether a downloaded app requests access to personal information including contacts, and warns the user.

A future version will also be able to check the reputation of the app developer, according to McAfee.

The company has added call and SMS filtering, so users can block unwanted calls and senders of spam texts, according to McAfee.

At its core, Mobile Security 2.0 scans and cleans malicious code from files, memory cards, applications, downloads, text messages, and attachments, according to McAfee.

But there are also a number of features to help people that lose their smartphones. Absent-minded users can remotely lock access to all data, including that stored on the SIM card, and display a message with contact details on the phone.

They can also remotely wipe data on their phone and the removable memory card. To ensure that nothing is lost, a backup can be made before everything is deleted, according to McAfee. To find the phone, users can view the device's location on a map, send an SMS to prompt its return, and use a remote alarm to help find it, McAfee said.

Users' biggest security concerns are not viruses, but related to where private content is sent, and the protection of passwords that can be used to access many different services, according to analyst Geoff Blaber of CCS Insight.

To address users concerns, security vendors seem to be taking a more holistic approach to smartphone protection, rather that a PC-oriented approach, which is very much focused on viruses and malware, Blaber said.

"We have been talking about viruses on mobiles for years, but we are yet to get to the point were there has been a piece of malware that has really hit phones," he said.

Besides Android, McAfee Mobile Security 2.0 is available for devices running BlackBerry OS and Symbian, but users of those platforms will have to manage without App Alert, which isn't included.

The software costs US$29.99 for new users and existing subscribers can download the updated software for free.

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