

Pentagon Opens Network to iOS and Android, Dealing Huge Blow to BlackBerry - harlox
http://www.techvibes.com/blog/pentagon-blackberry-ouch-2012-10-29

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bengl3rt
My understanding is that Android devices with custom images (SELinux-type-
stuff compiled into the kernel) have been allowed on their network for some
time. This wasn't just contractor-spec custom hardware - employees were
allowed to use their personal Android devices provided this stuff had been
installed.

So, the big news here is that that's no longer required, and that stock
Android devices will now be allowed.

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rdtsc
Do you have a source on that? I have been following Android news related to
the govt and haven't seen that. I am aware of SEAndroid from NSA but not about
devices running being allowed on DoD networks.

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paxswill
It's entirely possible to run Android on DoD networks, it just takes a lot of
work to certify it and the restrictions of what you can do with the device
make it almost useless.

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microtherion
I’m a bit surprised there is no mention of Windows Phone 8 whatsoever. I would
have thought that places like the Pentagon would be an important niche for it.

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phogster
"many US citizens are now embarrassed to own BlackBerrys"

That was unnecessary. Unless the author is shorting RIM.

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rdtsc
Well if it is an opinion piece I think that is pretty much true. I have a cell
phone that is not a 'smart phone'. Just one with a slidy type keyboard. There
have multiple times I have been made fun of or heard sarcastic remarks about
my phone being outdated. It is funny it is only 2 or 3 years old model. I
don't care much but it sort of illustrates what the attitudes out there are.

Also people in charge of making purchasing decisions at Pentagon have iPhones
and iPads at home and they see the difference between the device they are
supposed to use for work and the ones they use at home. And a lot of it is not
that Blackberry is terrible, it does its job, it is just that iPhones and
latest Android devices have moved so far ahead and comparatively they look so
much better.

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jlgreco
The best way to handle people like that is to preemptively strike. Try
chuckling at them whenever they have to charge their phone.

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jivatmanx
Hmm... I thought that they would want to limit it to one or the other, for
security purposes.

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georgemcbay
It only makes sense to use a single platform if that platform has proven to be
more secure than the others. Neither Android nor iOS has proven to be
inherently more secure than the other (both have had plenty of in-the-wild
exploits... the basis of most jailbreaking is due to such exploits).

If neither platform is provably more secure, it makes more sense to allow both
because in a fully homogeneous environment a single new exploit opens all the
doors while in a mixed system environment, it only opens a subset of them.

