Symantec touts extra layer of cloud security with 03 platform

Symantec has revealed more details about its 03 cloud service which provides a layer of security between users and cloud platforms, allowing administrators to set access policies and monitor activity and behaviour.

Slated for release next year, 03 will be offered as an on-premise private cloud system or hosted service.

Nico Popp, vice president for 03 at Symantec, told V3 that the service collects all credentials for web applications in a single place which can be accessed by any device.

Logging into 03 provides access to cloud applications with the user's credentials automatically entered into the site. This means that staff do not need to remember multiple passwords, and administrators can terminate access for former employees from a single application.

Unlike a virtual private network (VPN), 03 federates account information and is completely web-based.

"One of the weaknesses of the VPN is that it requires a client. 03 works on an iPad or an iPhone, and you don't even have to log-in to a VPN," said Popp.

The service also prevents staff side-stepping security controls by logging into accounts directly from a home computer or mobile device. Devices not logged-on to the service will be unable to view content because 03 encrypts the data.

The platform is designed to solve the lingering cloud computing security problems that have slowed adoption of the technology.

Joe Pasqua, vice president of research at Symantec, likened the rise in cloud computing to the early days of the PC market, when security was not a primary concern and many systems were vulnerable to attack.

"There are all these advantages, but at the same time the cloud world is just as nascent today as the PC world was in the 1980s," he said.

"The importance of a technology like 03 is how we can get the efficiency and flexibility of cloud services without getting into the same mess as 30 years ago."