G&D offers card to secure Android phones

Rating: Might catch on if cards are competitively priced

It could be regarded as something of a sledgehammer to crack a nut but Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has come up with a memory card designed to make any application running on a Google/Android phone highly secure.

Given that many view any ‘Open Source’ application as inherently insecure, G&D might well be onto a winner.

Rather than being merely a memory card, G&D’s Mobile Security Card is a mixture of memory card and chip & PIN smart card. Indeed it boasts its own little onboard processor. Yet it will still fit into an industry standard micro SD slot.

Naturally, G&D is making its driver software/APIs openly available which will enable developers to incorporate security functions into their own applications.

G&D trots out the standard types of application which might take advantage of this very high level of authentication such as online banking; secure access to corporate networks; and electronic ticketing. However, any business which wants to create a secure Android application can do so.

Given that the card has its own memory,  it provides a very easy way of disseminating sensitive applications to mobile phone users. There’s a two stage process to authenticating yourself so even the most paranoid IT managers would have trouble objecting to its usage.

No indication is given for the pricing of these card which are made for G&D by Phison – a Taiwanese producer. If competitively enough priced, it could prove a clever way to entice big businesses to take Android phones very seriously.

G&D provides the necessary tools and downloads for the Android developer community here.