From ‘Hygiene’ to Differentiator: the changing role of mobile security

One of the more provocative discussions at the 2014 Light Reading Mobile network Security Strategies conference in London centered around the changing role of security in the public view and how mobile operators should respond. In his keynote presentation, EE Director of Technical Security Peter Erceg, challenged operators to become more strategic when making security decisions. It was time, he said, to move security from a simple hygiene factor into a market differentiator; to manage security beyond a “health check” into a capability that drives new business and creates competitive advantage.

Security, privacy, and protection from service disruption caused by malicious attacks or unintentional errors get blended into the public discussion on all aspects of security. In particular, privacy is a growing public concern, especially in Europe. Spurred by the 2013 Snowden leaks, the European parliament earlier this passed a large package of laws designed to overhaul on-line privacy rulings across all 28 EU countries. Companies like Google will be forced to modify their search technology to allow individuals veto rights over results linking to web pages containing personal information or face much higher fines for lack of compliance.

Perhaps in an attempt to get in front of the heightened sensitivity to privacy invasion, Facebook released Privacy check up, a major policy about-face that makes it easy- to choose privacy settings using simple graphics, and changes the default viewing to “friends only” instead of “public”.

Ironically, as the public appreciation for stronger on-line security and privacy protection grows, it may be Google and Facebook that emerge as public champions with their much publicized (albeit forced) changes for privacy protection. In contrast, despite the growing swell of marketing need, and a history of investment in security and privacy protecting technology, mobile operators have so far remained largely absent from the public conversation.

In fact, mobile operators are held to a much higher standard than web companies. It is the failure of their security and privacy practices that have thrust Google and Facebook into the spotlight. In contrast, the near-spotless record of mobile operators in areas of security seems to be largely overlooked. Nevertheless, conference attendees agreed that there is an opportunity for operators to leverage this growing public concern by continued investment in security infrastructure and by taking a proactive strategic marketing approach that spotlights security as part of their corporate messaging.