Mobile secure gateway

Mobile secure gateway (MSG) is an industry term for the software or hardware appliance that provides secure communication between mobile application and respective backend resources typically within a corporate network. It addresses challenges in the field of mobile security.

MSG is typically composed from two components - Client library and Gateway. Client is a library that is linked with the mobile application. It establishes secure connectivity to Gateway using cryptographic protocol typically SSL/TLS. This represents secured channel used for communication between the mobile application and hosts. Gateway separates internal IT infrastructure from the Internet, allowing only authorized client requests to reach specific set of hosts inside restricted network.

Client Library

Client library is linked with respective mobile application and that provides secure access via Gateway to the set of Hosts. Client library exposes public API to the mobile application, mimicking platform default HTTP client library. The application uses this API to communicate with the desired hosts in a secure way.

Gateway

Gateway is a server or daemon that is typically installed onto physical or virtual appliance placed into DMZ. Gateway public interface is exposed to the Internet (or other untrusted network) and accepts TCP/IP connections from mobile applications. It operates on IPv4 and/or IPv6 networks. Incoming client connections use typically SSL/TLS to provide a security of network communication and a mutual trust of communicating peers. Communication protocol is typically based on SPDY or HTTP.

Host

Gateway forwards requests from connected apps to a collection of configured hosts. These are typically HTTP or HTTPS servers or services within an internal network. The response from a host is sent back to the respective mobile app.

External links

• Mobile Secure Gateway description on Symantec.
• Mobile Secure Gateway reference architecture.