Date: 24/02/2011

McAfee to secure mobile embedded devices by partnering with Wind River

McAfee, Inc and Wind River have announced a strategic agreement to develop, market and support security solutions for embedded systems and mobile electronic devices other than PCs. The number of connected devices which are estimated to grow to 50 billion by 2020 mainly consists of traditional embedded and mobile electronic device market segments such as industrial control, energy management, automotive, national infrastructure, defense, networking and smartphones as well as emerging segments including smart grid, connected home health care, home gateways and tablets. In a cloud computing kind of a scenario seamless connection between mobile devices and enterprise and public networks is expected to rise and so is the requirement of secured connection.

The release says this tsunami of connectivity is creating a huge increase in security vulnerabilities. A security breach of an embedded device (e.g., nuclear reactor controls, utility grid, defense communication system) could have serious implications, which can be targeted by organized crime and nation states as evidenced by the recent Stuxnet attack, according to the release.

As per these companies, since embedded devices have technology requirements that differ from traditional IT equipment, namely limited power, memory and performance constraints, traditional security solutions are insufficient and both McAfee and Wind River are going to offer purpose-built security and management solutions for this unique and explosive growing market segment.

"Embedded devices are everywhere, allowing us to communicate and improve aspects of our daily lives," said Dave DeWalt, president and CEO, McAfee. "These instrumental pieces of our lives also pose a great risk and securing them is imperative. The teaming of McAfee and Wind River will allow us to implement security measures to protect these critical devices and keep people more safe and secure."

"Our customers across nearly all market segments have elevated embedded security to a top priority," said Ken Klein, president, Wind River. "Together with McAfee, we will deliver the most comprehensive security solutions in the embedded industry, with security solutions designed to protect all layers of the software stack. This will address our customers' concerns and protect their embedded devices as they are increasingly used on public and private networks."

McAfee and Wind River are starting off with initial integrations between Wind River Linux and McAfee security solutions, followed by additional integrations with other Wind River operating systems and embedded virtualization technologies. A phased rollout of security solutions is in pipeline for year 2011. Additionally, Wind River will include McAfee security offerings helping original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to build secure devices.