Skip to main content
D
dpvone
Participant
August 13, 2018
Question

Is anyone ising Adobe reader for IOS in a completely containerized/secure environments? I have all functions locked down but can still open in non secure email client.

  • August 13, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 434 views

I am contracting at a Law Firm and we have had demands from clients to "containerize" our Mobile Devices so client data cannot be compromised.  For example,  if a lawyer has a filing for a case in PDF format and opens it on their iPhone or iPad, we need to restrict the data so it can't be saved locally to the iPhone or iPad. we also need to prevent copy/paste to applications which are not part of the Firm app catalog and not secured.  Also. we need to prevent the ability to open in a non-secure email application.  These are pretty standard functions of DLP (Data Leak Protection).   We are using MobileIron and Adobe Reader is installed on 250 devices out of ~2000 total.  

Does any one have this set up and working completely.  I have it partially secure, but with all of the restrictions in place,Adobe reader still automatically saves a copy of a PDF locally if opened in email.  Just this one behavior completely defeats all other restrictions because the data is now stored locally on the phone and the users can do whatever they want to it.    I would have to document that they need to save the file to a secure location, and then manually remove it from the "local" section.  Very cumbersome.  

Thank You

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
August 14, 2018

P.S. I think that by focussing on stopping files from being transferred you are really chasing the impossible. Normal practice seems to be to focus on making a transferred file useless, via DRM. iOS now supports access to PDF files secured with DRM (digital rights managent) through the LiveCycle Rights Management enterprise plaform. However the only authentication supported appears to be username/password, and it isn't clear to me whether this is any security against sharing file/user/password. Users may be inhibited from sharing their personal username and password, and knowing access may be audited, but this does not prevent the action.

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
August 14, 2018

Presumably, though, when a PDF is "opened in email", because of app isolation, the email app is sending the file to the Acrobat Reader app, which has to immediately store what it is sent (because there is no way to ask for it again). I'd expect most apps would immediately save locally in this situation. (I do understand the difficulty, but iOS app isolation makes for strange limitations).

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices