3 June 2013

Decent phones coming for pubes?

| johnboy
Join the conversation
17
galaxy sIII

itNews has the thrilling prospect of senior public servants joining the third millennia with access to a decent smartphone through work:

Samsung has submitted three of its mobile devices to the Australian Signals Directorate in an attempt to have them accepted for use in the workplace by government officials.

The security posture of the Samsung Galaxy SIII, Samsung Galaxy Note II and Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 are to be audited against EAL2 standards by third party assessor BAE Systems Detica.

BAE has been licensed by the Australian Signals Directorate (formerly known as the DSD or Defence Signals Directorate) to provide Common Criteria evaluations for technology products.

If the devices are approved, Australian Government officials will be permitted to transmit and store UNCLASSIFIED information using these devices.

A spokesperson for Defence told iTnews this was “the first time an Android device will undergo this kind of evaluation on behalf of ASD.”

The audit for the Samsung Android devices is not expected to be completed before the end of the year.

The pretty decent Blackberry 10 is also being evaluated to soon public servants with government phones won’t be laughed at quite so hard (although where the state of the art will by the end of the year is anyone’s guess.

Join the conversation

17
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

Wow, so the ‘family friendly’ APS might actually allow some form of workplace flexibility.

Ok, I know that being on call is not workplace friendly; but being able to stay in touch while watching the kids perform at school plays, or whatever, makes up for it.

eyeLikeCarrots4:03 pm 03 Jun 13

Good For Enterprise is approved by ASD (nee DSD) at EAL4+ (meaning it can handle info above unclassified but below the higher national security levels) – but you have to be using it on IOS only device and that has to be in a managed state.

Its all on the DSD website http://www.dsd.gov.au/infosec/epl/index_details.php?product_id=MzA5IyMjMjAyLjU1LjE1MS40

There is I believe (unfortunatley) a much higher risk of an up to date Android device being compromised by a piece of mobile malware (yep, they are out there) than an upto date IOS device.

johnboy said :

We’re endlessly excited.

But trust me, this is a big deal for a lot of people.

Some departments already have galaxy phones by proxy. By that I mean they’re already receiving communication unclassified and above via a third party service called ‘Good for enterprise’. Basically a department has a Good server that is maintained with department specific policies and handheld administration but the emails are accessed via an application on the phone or tablet which connects to Good servers outside of the department which have emails forwarded externally from the department good servers.

As far as I’m aware that its recently been DSD approved. This however doesn’t extend to files like the above mentions.

True, Good is doing very well in the large enterprise space around the world.

The definition of ‘thrilling’ on RiotACT is a little different from the normal definition. Everything seems to be thrilling at the moment…Except for things that are ‘symbolic’.

We’re endlessly excited.

But trust me, this is a big deal for a lot of people.

The real issue is not in the devices, although the ability to lock them down is what they are getting assessed now, but also the server backend infrastructure. The biggest problem now is just how much work is needed to keep blackberries and ipads running. sounds great to add another device, but never underestimate how the most intelligent person can completely screw up their mobile device or lose a really important email for no valid reason. Not that they will tell you, because most of the faults are the users fault, but they are in an ass covering exercise in fron of their boss and just blame IT.

Gungahlin Al1:37 pm 03 Jun 13

I dropped iOS to convert to a Note 2 (somewhat fearfully) but will never go back. Love it.
Drop in Apex Launcher, AI Type’s awesome keyboard/predictive text/autocorrect app, Automateit for task and settings changes automation, Avast mobile security, Onavo download monitor, Contacts+ to roll all the phone/contacts/messaging together, and you have a heck of a nice platform. With an incredibly good/accurate handwriting recognition/stylus combo and a screen big enough that you won’t need a tablet but still fits in your pocket.

Add in some sweet apps like Sky Safari (can actually drive my telescope!), Pocket Casts, Google Play Music (soo much better than iTunes), Tweetcaster, Chrome… Think I’ll stop there.

“The security posture of the Samsung Galaxy SIII, Samsung Galaxy Note II and Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 are to be audited against EAL2 standards by third party assessor BAE Systems Detica.

BAE has been licensed by the Australian Signals Directorate (formerly known as the DSD or Defence Signals Directorate) to provide Common Criteria evaluations for technology products.”

BAe Systems – the company that brought you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Yamamah_arms_deal

HiddenDragon11:33 am 03 Jun 13

Holden Caulfield said :

SEWPAC has made iPhones available to its execs for a while now.

That would help to make up for the regrettable acronym.

The picture above looks a little like the screen has a bullet hole.

Solidarity said :

Most high up people don’t have the time or interest to mess around with an Android phone and their constant barrage of crap code that force the phones to freeze crash all the time. Good hardware, crap software.

Just coming up to six months of using my S2, most of that on ICS but the last couple of months on Jelly Bean. The only thing that has crashed is one of my dodgy, free apps, and even then it’s only when the phone is in the process of switching between WiFi and 3G.

If the devices are approved, Australian Government officials will be permitted to transmit and store UNCLASSIFIED information using these devices.

Wow, so you’ll be able to store information that is currently allowed to be transmitted in clear text over a public network or carry home on a thumb drive.

Holden Caulfield10:36 am 03 Jun 13

SEWPAC has made iPhones available to its execs for a while now.

Solidarity said :

Most high up people don’t have the time or interest to mess around with an Android phone and their constant barrage of crap code that force the phones to freeze crash all the time. Good hardware, crap software.

Sounds like an iPhone user hanging onto the last decade.

Tell that to this Note 2 in front of me.

Most high up people don’t have the time or interest to mess around with an Android phone and their constant barrage of crap code that force the phones to freeze crash all the time. Good hardware, crap software.

they’ve come a long way in the last few years.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.