Mr. Khalid, Can you please introduce yourself to security kaizen
Magazine Readers?

I am the founder, President and CEO of Spyders Inc., one of Canada Profit200, Profit500 and Greater Toronto Area Profit50 fastest growing IT Managed Security Services and consulting firms. I have over fifteen years of IT security risk management experience and twenty seven years of broad, in-depth experience with technical and managerial achievement in Telecommunication Networks, Operations, IT Security, Outsourcing, Process re engineering and Acquisitions.My wealth ofexperience was gained in key roles with Spyders Inc. as CEO, Cyberklix Inc. as CEO, CGI Group Inc. as Vice President, HP, CIBC, IBM Canada, The Gemini Group and Air Canada.

Under my leadership and stewardship, I have led two successful IT security businesses through multi-year double digit growth and I am at the helm of Spyders Inc.’s product division and its flagship product, IntelliGO, an intelligent solution for the mobile enterprise.

I received B.A.Sc. in Computer and Communication Engineering from University of Ottawa and a B.Sc in General Sciences from University of Toronto, I attended management courses at the Ivey School of
Business and is a long-time member of the Ordre Des Ingenieurs Du Quebec.

What is Mobile Device Management?

In my view, MDM is the business of being able to provide control, visibility and integration capabilities through a single, intelligent platform to address the challenges associated with mobile device adoption
and provide secure access to corporate information.

Can you give us an overview about Spyders, when did it start? What kind of products do you provide?

Spyders is a leading provider of information security and computer networking solutions and services for clients across all industries. The company has been recognized by PROFIT magazine as one of the fastest growing companies in Canada, and is featured on the 2014 Branham300 list, the definitive listing of Canada’s top Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies. Spyders is the manufacturer of IntelliGO, our flag ship product, and we deliver three service offerings in the areas of information security and computer networking. These services include Spyders’ assessment and advisory services, solution integration of Gartner leading technologies, and managed services.
IntelliGO is a mobile device enablement platform that gives organizations the confidence to easily and securely implement BYOD and mobile initiatives.
The solution combines two critical aspects of mobile enablement into a single platform, Network Access
Control (NAC) and Mobile Device Management (MDM).
This makes it easy to provide employees, contractors & guests with quick, secure access to corporate resources
through mobile devices.
IntelliGO takes the complexity out of deploying a NAC solution and adds all the key features of an MDM solution in a single user-friendly management portal to enable the smooth onboarding & off-boarding of devices, & full visibility & control over all devices on the network whether they connect through the corporate wireless, wired or VPN network.

What differentiates your product from other vendors?

Gartner, Forrester and NetworkWorld have all recommended that there must be a strong and cohesive
integration between NAC and MDM, two point solutions, in order to properly secure your network and mobile endpoints today. Point solutions are challenging and are a fundamentally flawed approach to security.
For example within the context of MDM;
• MDM systems can only see and manage devices that have already been enrolled in the MDM system. This
leaves IT Managers blind to unmanaged devices on the network.
• MDM systems typically do not control access to the network; they typically control access to applications (for example, Microsoft Exchange).
• MDM system is often managed by a different group of people than are not responsible for computer security.
This creates an opportunity for policies to be inconsistently applied and translated across the various IT management systems and groups.
IntelliGO was built from the ground up to consolidate
network access control and mobile device management in a single appliance, with one unified policy for all
devices on the LAN, WLAN and VPN. It brings together Simplicity and Security to deliver mobile enablement for
any organization. IntelliGO is really delivering Network Access Control (NAC) functionality and Mobile Device Management (MDM) functionality in one solution. It is a standards-based platform that makes use of digital
certificates to securely authenticate and manage corporate and user owned mobile devices across most popular mobile platforms.
Our platform is the foundation for the next-generation of mobile device management and mobile security. The
other vendors would have to reinvent their platforms to do what we are doing today.
Therefore, our one differentiator is our integration of Network Access Control and Mobile Device Management
in a single standards based platform that can integrate into any network environment.
Within this single platform IntelliGO delivers:

1. Holistic Security – securing network, mobile endpoint and communication. IntelliGO’s built-in certificate authority and on-demand VPN ensures only authorized users can access the network and all communications are encrypted. Our remote device command features go beyond lock, wipe, locate. IntelliGO can capture webcam, screen capture, sends messages and audible alerts to mobile devices.

2. Solution Consolidation – single pane of glass, single policy, single administration

3. Device Coverage – go beyond laptops, smartphones, tablets to authenticate printers, medical devices, gaming consoles etc. We support Chromebooks for EAP-TLS, which most competitors

4. Scalable – scales to support deployments of 1000’s of devices through a robust architecture; can be deployed in a HA environment to support DR requirements.

How do you see your future growth?

We have expanded our sales and business development beyond the North American borders and we are now introducing IntelliGO to the MENA markets by establishing presence in this region. We see the global demands for an intelligent mobile platform exceeding supply and the initial entrants in that MDM space have to reinvent themselves to meet new and evolving business requirements in this mobility space.
We will grow because we have a single platform solution with the right foundation that offers both NAC and MDM. On this platform we will continue to meet clients’ business requirements by adding new features and functions that will enhance the security posture of organizations and without charging clients for new features and functions. Some of these include Biometric authentication of  users and devices, better application security, enhanced compliance and security policy enforcement capabilities, and better integration with Mobile Application management solutions.  We think we are on the right roadmap to an explosive growth in this space.

Mobile devices are exposed to a lot of threats, what kind of security features does your solution provide?

Not only are mobile devices subject to security risk, but are becoming a targeted vector to attack and exploit the entire IT infrastructure and applications to which these devices connect. Organizations will always be facing external threats and internal threats as well as compliance requirements. Mobility and Cloud will no doubt increase the risk of attempted attacks and security breaches. What we have done with IntellIGO is recognize that there are three areas that must be addressed to reduce security risks. These include control, visibility and integration.

1. Control includes access control and control of mobile device activities post access to the network. Control features must also recognize the variety of ways a user can connect mobile devices to the network such as wired, wireless or VPN connections as well as the diversity of mobile devices types, operating systems and their different levels, Windows, Apple iOS, Andorid, ChromeBooks, etc.

2. Visibility – IT needs real time visibility into all devices and their status on the network, and must have the ability to track historical information and use such information to take the control actions which may be deemed appropriate to protect the enterprise from potential breaches.

3. Integration is being able to extend the services of the mobile enablement platform to the rest of the network elements to have them work in a coordinated fashion to mitigate risk. These include integration with Active Directories for authentication, mobile device and user identity federation into other security solutions such other firewalls, SIEM solutions or interface to AppStores to download mobile applications to mobile devices or remove them from mobile devices.

Our solution, IntelliGO, provides all these functions and features and it is a solution that goes beyond basic MDM features to include more robust security features that are a must have if you are looking to reduce the security risk associated with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and the adoption of mobile devices.