Pentagon Approves iDevices for Military Use

As rumoured earlier this month, Apple’s iDevices received the Pentagon’s seal of approval for use on its networks, reports Bloomberg.

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Devices which run iOS 6 have been awaiting essential security certification from the US government. This came on May 3, 2013, as we reported. At that time Apple’s mobile operating system received the required FIPS 140-2 certification, but the Defense Information Systems Agency performed its own tests to confirm that Apple’s devices and operating system conform to their own standards.

The Security Technical Implementation Guide for Apple’s iOS 6 software issued on January 29, 2013 state that — as we previously pointed out — all Web traffic will be required to be routed through a DoD Internet gateway so that “Internet traffic inspection and filtering tools, located at the DoD Internet gateway, can be used on all mobile device Internet traffic.”

This safety instruction was necessary, because at the time Apple’s iOS 6 was pending FIPS 140-2 certification approval. Since the Cupertino company has now received the certification from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, it appears that the Pentagon will allow its employees to use Apple’s mobile Safari for browsing the Web, as the iOS CryptoCore Kernel Module 3.0 was found to be up to the security requirements of the US government.

The Pentagon approval gives a green light for Apple to compete in a market previously dominated by BlackBerry. The Pentagon has previously granted approval for Samsung devices for military use, back on May 2 this year.

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