iPhone 7 Ousts Samsung Galaxy Note 4 As 'Device of Choice' For UK Defense Officials (thestack.com) 55
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Stack: Apple is to offer its iPhone 7 as the "device of choice" for the UK military's secure communications. British telecom giant BT is said to be hardening the Apple device in order for it to be able to handle the Ministry of Defense's military communications, including state secrets and highly-sensitive data. While BT has not provided further details on the development, due to security reasons, the telco is reportedly in the process of upgrading the iPhone 7 to support various modes of operation and to add secure apps or "storage containers," as well as military-grade encryption features among other enhancements. The iPhone 7 will now replace Samsung's Galaxy Note 4 smartphone, which was originally selected for the project, as security in the Samsung model was found to be inadequate.
In other news (Score:5, Interesting)
Remote Attackers Can Force Samsung Galaxy Devices Into Never-Ending Reboot Loop: https://it.slashdot.org/story/... [slashdot.org]
Oh, that was just the Slashdot item before this one?
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. . . and because it is in a reboot loop . . . the battery gets stressed out . . . and BOOM!
Obviously Kim Chi's North Korean spies have infiltrated the Samsung battery factories in China, and sabotaged the battery production with the intent of disabling Britain's Armed Forces The Queen's Royal Bengal Lancers and Broom-bathers Battalion.
North Korea is afraid that the UK, now freed from the EU shackles, is planning to restart its Colony Program, which was wound down following World War II. UK Prime Ministe
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Because they want a good phone not an android shit box.
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The problem is that Android devices are less securable. All they're doing to these is installing some profiles and apps for remote management, the 'military grade' encryption features are just the OS'es AES-256 device encryption, it's not like they're making their own system. Android binaries and chipmakers are also heavily controlled by Chinese interest.
It makes no sense! (Score:3)
BT... the mind boggles (Score:4, Interesting)
I wouldn't trust BT to secure a WIFI point let alone a military system.
Trust Apple (Score:1)
Re: wonder how much apple paid them for this (Score:1)
Meh, probably nothing. Samsung is a shit company and makes shit devices.
There are plenty of other good android phones, even better than the iPhone. Not Samsung, though. Android would be better off without them.
This matters... (Score:2)
foolish (Score:2, Insightful)
If you trust a consumer-grade device with state secrets then you have lost before you even began.
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Right. I hear Clinton's private server is up on Ebay.
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If you trust a consumer-grade device with state secrets then you have lost before you even began.
The 1990s called and want their 40 bit consumer-grade encryption back, today's systems use the same AES algorithm the US encrypts TOP SECRET information with. Maybe you haven't noticed the FBI is pissed because "consumer devices" are too good? The distinction between consumer and military grade has all but disappeared, except the military usually exists it operates in more extreme temperatures. But even that you have rugged civilian gear that mimics.
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If you trust a consumer-grade device with state secrets then you have lost before you even began.
If you trust a unicorn-grade device with state propaganda then you have won before you even began.
There, FTFY.
This is Apple's answer to Jobs ... (Score:3)
... secure phones.
We're all asking, "what's the next big thing in smart phones (and tablets)?"
It seems that just about everything's been done:
- Nice, big screens
- Advanced cameras
- Speedier processing
- Multitasking
- Sensor accuracy
What's missing is security.
I foresee "dark" phones and tablets that are ad-free -- for a price, of course.
Apple continues to #resist pressure to sell insecure products because that's not what the consumers want; especially in the high-end business and government markets.
Internet advertising is saturating bandwidth, similar to what email spam did in the past, and is largely ineffective [nngroup.com]
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We're all asking, "what's the next big thing in smart phones (and tablets)?
Built in taser.
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No.
The battery [taser.com] is too big and using one would be battery [thefreedictionary.com].
I'm glad they plugged the leaks (Score:3, Funny)
Courage (Score:1)
I just figured MOD was looking to add more courage
A better headline (Score:2)
UK Defence officials purchase current generation phone instead of an old generation that the vendor has tried to supersede.
What other revelations are we going to find about now? That the UK defence department opted to buy desktop PCs instead of typewriters?