Samsung KNOX is a solution that hardens the security of the hardware through the application layer, and this end-to-end solution was earlier available only to the Enterprises, but Samsung announced at the Unpacked event yesterday at IFA 2013, that the Knox would now be commercially available to the consumers with the high-end Android devices, and that would initially include the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition and the support would be extended later on, to the devices such as Galaxy S3, S4 and Note II later on.
According to its makers, Samsung KNOX implements a concept called “container” that is a separate secure execution environment for a set of pre-screened applications to run and store data.
The Applications that are running outside the container will not be getting a full access and it would be a limited one, because the security in it would be enforced by the system-level protection of the Samsung Knox. The main help is provided when the device is lost or stolen, and when the user data is tried to be accessed by the various hacking attempts, and the protection from the malware phishing attacks is also done.
Samsung has recently extended this support from just the enterprise level to the consumer level, where the users can now take an advantage of it, and store content like personal pictures in that container which is at such a level of security where one cannot breach and steal the content even through hacking as the data from there doesn’t get leaked.
In addition, users may choose to store enterprise applications and data such as corporate email, contacts and calendar allowing the IT department to manage the container through EAS (Exchange ActiveSync Server). These features make Samsung KNOX an ideal platform for BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device to work). The main issue for most of the employees to bring their devices to work is the security and the data breach, and the Knox does the right job in protecting that.
The level of security in the Knox is such that it is approved by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), to be used in the DoD networks, and the company is pushing the Knox in the devices with no extra cost, but right now the availability is limited, with the Note 3 and Note 10.1 2014 edition to be getting it all around the world, and the three other high-end devices Note II, S3 and S4 would be getting it very soon after this.
