Today brings the announcement that Intrinsic-ID and INSIDE Secure have teamed up to provide high level security for cloud-based transactions via a new Hardware Intrinsic Security (HIS) solution for the Saturnus Cloud Security application.
Intrinsic-ID describes HIS in possibly the most accessible way: it's biometrics for electronic devices. The patented solution extracts security keys from the unique characteristics on an integrated circuit that are naturally occurring during the manufacturing process. This adds an additional high security factor on top of the IC that is already designed to provide protection. In this case the chip in question is INSIDE Secure's microcontroller, which features anti-cloning capabilities.
The first application on slate to receive the joint benefits of this partnership is Saturnus. A USB smart card peripheral that encrypts data before sending it into the cloud for storage makes sure that the encryption keys are managed on the token and not even stored on the device sending the secure files. The way that this works inevitably means that if the USB token is not present to perform HIS-based decryption, the files can't even be accessed by the original mobile device that sent them to the cloud in the first place.
With the constant discussion of cloud security in the workplace, which despite resistance is slowly but surely being absorbed by BYOD, solutions that offer targeted protection for critical data are becoming more of a necessity. Mobile device management (MDM) is an important tool, but sometimes a specialized security device like Saturnus and its new tokens will work just as well. Perhaps it's time to start to considder bringing your own security when you BYOD.