Aussie Security Forces Testing Apple's iOS

lukehopewell1 writes "Australia's Defence Signal Directorate (DSD) is testing the national security capability of Apple's iOS mobile operating system for use on federal networks that transmit national security data. If the operating system is certified as secure, Australian Defence Force personnel, government aides as well as ministers and senators at all levels could see iPads deployed as standard."

Re:What could possibly go wrong?

[joh]

Wasn't there a hack, published recently, that allowed a user to bypass all security & protections on an IOS device, simply through the standard connector?

No, not all, just some. There are different levels of protection, some were broken and some not. iOS has some newer APIs for that which aren't widely used yet by apps, but they're there and used right they're secure.

Re:What could possibly go wrong?

[hawkbat05]

BlackBerry has been tested under FIPS 140-2, CC and CAPS and has been approved for NATO RESTRICTED, UK IL3 and Canada Protected B (among others). It's all available for review here [blackberry.com]. BlackBerry also supports S/MIME and/or PGP, device and media card encryption, DoD CAC/smartcards (for two factor authentication to the device), Bluetooth encryption, AES256 encryption between the device and it's BlackBerry Enterprise Server, several options for secure remote wipe of the data (even if there is no cellular connection) and all of this can be enforced from a centrally administered server and compliance verified from there as well. Show me how iPhone or Android can even come close to not only the certifications but the security features that can be easily audited for compliance. The only other phone that beat some of this is the Sectera Edge by General Dynamics (which can encrypt voice as well) but I wouldn't call their solution COTS. I know that reads like an advertisement but BlackBerry is really the only one doing all of that (afaik anyway).