Lookout security for Samsung Knox smartphones

Samsung Knox smartphones will include mobile security software from Lookout to protect business users from mobile threats, the San Francisco company said Tuesday.

The deal is part of Lookout’s plan to build and offer security products for businesses and enterprises, Lookout CEO John Hering wrote Tuesday in a blog post. “Our business users want the same level of mobile threat protection our consumer products offer,” he added.

Currently, 45 million people worldwide use the Lookout product and mobile operators, including Deutsche Telekom, have partnered with Lookout to secure their customers’ devices.

Samsung Electronics’ Knox is an Android-based platform designed by the company to enhance security of the current open source Android.

Devices built around Apple’s iOS operating system and Knox were approved in May by the U.S. Department of Defense for use on its networks, as the department moves to support multivendor mobile devices and operating systems.

The Defense Information Systems Agency, which certifies commercial technology for defense use had earlier approved the BlackBerry 10 smartphone and PlayBook tablet with its enterprise mobility management platform BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 to be used on the networks.

Protection against mobile threats is essential in any workplace, specially a BYOD (bring-your-own-device) workplace, where employees are allowed to use mobile devices of their choice for both personal and official work, Hering wrote. Lookout for Business, which will be available later this year, will keep devices, networks and infrastructure safe from mobile threats and protect corporate devices, and the sensitive data they carry, according to the company.

Samsung did not immediately comment on the deal. “Wherever KNOX will be, Lookout will be there, too,” Hering wrote in the blog post.