IBM is set to join the stage at this year’s 17th Annual AT&T Cybersecurity Conference in New York City, where it will announce the AT&T and IBM mobile cloud security solution. It’s a simplistic concept in name, but it tethers a vastly complex array of domains across devices, apps, networks and cloud computing to tackle the current business boundaries around insecure data.

In this burgeoning mobile economy, CIOs face enormous demand from their businesses to deliver a diverse range of apps that connect with customers and employees across any device. This fundamentally changes the security, management and networking capabilities needed to deliver more user and app-centric business mobility. With the Mobile Cloud Security framework, enterprises now gain a simple, secure and scalable environment to enable their growing mobile workforce.

Mobile Connectivity and Security

This framework starts with IBM MobileFirst Protect, which provides an enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution to help organizations secure their mobile devices, apps and content across the wide range of use cases, especially those that require strong security.

Bringing that device data into the IBM Cloud securely with a strong signal is AT&T NetBond. Connecting to the SoftLayer infrastructure secures public and private clouds for applications and data storage.

To ensure efficiency of cost in conjunction with keeping ROI aligned with rapid device expansion is the AT&T Work Platform. Now, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs can be less bloated by offering separate billing of business and personal charges across voice, messaging and data use on an employee’s personal device.

Attacks on the Rise

Why now for these solution pairings? Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting mobile apps, Internet connections and corporate networks. The AT&T Cybersecurity Insights report saw a 62 percent increase in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks over the past two years. Additionally, IBM research found that nearly half of all companies allocate no budget to securing the apps they develop. Also, many companies are sitting in a state of dormant susceptibility after malware was uploaded to their networks by users who merely wanted to sync photos and music on their mobile phones.

“To help protect organizations, employees and data, IBM Security and AT&T are delivering a tested and easy-to-deploy set of complementary tools [for] mobile cloud security. We’re giving enterprise mobile device users stable, private access to data and apps in the cloud,” said Caleb Barlow, Vice President of IBM Security.

The final results can already be seen through each company’s deep histories in computing and connectivity. Under mobile cloud security solutions, businesses can now scale employee desires for productivity while reducing complexity and increasing security on a global scale.