It will define the association's security philosophy and tailor GlobalPlatform's Specification offerings for the security ecosystem. The group will identify specific industry use cases and work to apply the best combination of GlobalPlatform Specifications to offer practical and proportionate levels of defense against the unique threats that each use case faces in the real world.

"Security is not about making something bigger or stronger," explains Jon Geater, Chair of the Security Task Force. "These concepts are comforting but are meaningless on their own: security is far more contextual than that. Our work is about bringing GlobalPlatform's spectrum of specifications together in a way that best defends real assets from real threats in real devices and systems."

The task force has been created in response to the increasing number of secure and trusted services that are being deployed on devices such as smartphones that contain often under-utilized secure chip technology, but need to be protected. The group's immediate priorities are to develop white papers to communicate GlobalPlatform's role in the security ecosystem and to host GlobalPlatform security workshops with industry representatives to explore the management of secure and non-secure applications on a mobile device. In order to achieve its goals, the group will also facilitate discussions regarding security requirements for devices incorporating secure chip technology and actively contribute to industry efforts to streamline security certification. The group is currently made up of 42 GlobalPlatform Member companies.

Jon continues: "This group will not be creating any new technology but will instead focus on advancing the security and utility of GlobalPlatform Specifications in meeting the evolving and, at times, complex needs of the user. To achieve this we are evaluating the security challenges faced and analyzing how to leverage our arsenal of secure chip specifications to create appropriate levels of defense for each use case. "

"Migration to mobile security requires evolution in the traditional security concepts so right from the word go, we have seen engagement in the group from both security providers and from those that use these products. GlobalPlatform aims to connect security experts with users such as service providers to discuss use cases for GlobalPlatform Specifications as input from both sides will help us to tailor GlobalPlatform's offering to the specific requirements of the marketplace," adds Kevin Gillick, Executive Director of GlobalPlatform. "As an association, we have always worked closely with the security ecosystem and have formed this task force to better address the needs of the rapidly evolving secure chip industry. As end users begin to use a reduced number of devices there is a need for convergence in security management. We therefore ask entities that create security solutions, and those that utilize them, to contribute to our work to create a proportionate and user-friendly security environment. As work is just beginning, this is a real opportunity to be involved in shaping GlobalPlatform's work in this area from the offset."