Bluefire Security Technologies has launched Bluefire Mobile Firewall Plus, a security system to protect handheld devices and the networks they are used on. In addition, they are announcing that Johns Hopkins Medicine has selected Bluefire to secure its wireless devices and protect patient confidentiality.

According to Bluefire, key features of its solution include AES-based encryption and enforcement of power-on passwords to protect data on a device, as well as a device-level integrity manager that alerts administrators to changes in system files, registries and applications.

The company said cross-packet analysis secures mobile devices and enterprise networks from attacks and negligent transmission of malicious code during synchronization, while a device quarantine shields the enterprise from compromised devices.

An enterprise manager centrally controls devices, defines security policies and deploys security rules. In addition, Bluefire said the system is built on a scalable, relational database that consolidates policies and profiles, collecting event logs for complete historical reporting.

In regard to John Hopkins, Bluefire said it is helping Hopkins protect patient information and meet the security requirements in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The HIPAA final security rule went into effect in April and stipulates that portable computing devices that can store personal health information - such as PDAs - are subject to the data security requirements outlined in the rule.

Bluefire also announced that Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute intend to collaborate with them in research programs and work together on new handheld security solutions.