iPhone, iPad getting Cryptographic modules to better target government and enterprise?
TiPb is hearing that Apple might just be set to take on government and enterprise a little bit more aggressively by adding FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Modules to iPhone, iPad, and the Mac.
The Federal Information Processing Standard, publication 140-2 is a US government security standard for certifying both hardware and software security modules. According to our source, Mac OS X Lion is already in the 2nd to last stage of testing via the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with an estimated 1-2 months before completion. iPhone and iPad aren't as far along yet, with several months to go before certification.
While Apple has made huge inroads into enterprise there are organizations that simply won't consider iPhone or iPad without strong cryptographic support. Looks like that might just be on the way now.
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Neat.
I think the security developments in OSX Lion can indeed be viewed a part of Apples recently announced initiative to work closely with business - particularly small businesses - in order to integrate Macs, iPhones and of course iPads into their workflow. It goes without saying how invaluable such integration would become for internal and external commas as well as collaboration on the go.
Apple have named this "partnership" Apple Joint Venture (which you can read all about on the Apple website) and this sits alongside the Apple Business team but has a much more hands on role in terms of consultancy, hardware and software recommendation, set up, training and maintenance. It looks like a great service for both parties.
As Steve Jobs stated last year, he sees Apple as the number one mobile comms and computing company and the figures back him up on the consumer side of things. It is only right that Apple now attempt to make inroads into the business sector.
Jo:)
One further hurdle for IOS devices here (in government, not as much in enterprise) is that many of the agencies with strong cryptographic needs also ban cameras -- that's the main reason in 2011 we still see Blackberry models without any camera at all. I doubt Apple cares enough to make non-camera SKUs to crack that relatively small niche for phones, but it might be lucrative enough in the tablet market to keep a non-camera iPad around.
there's a fix other than banning cameras and rim has this as an option too.
have a policy that disables the camera. the iphone config utility has this ability.
oh, and the IRS allows personal camera phones at some of their premises. it just has to be turned off. banning them completely is becoming impossible so these alternatives are chosen by business
selling a model without a camera is just a lot easier
I understand working with the gov. is a pain, perhaps this is more additional "marketing" to enterprise than making a specialized non-camera version.
Would they sell enough even at a premium to be worth the special product and additional costs of doing biz with gov. agencies?
There are also aftermarket companies that will disassemble and disconnect the camera (and microphone and bluetooth and wireless). This is done routinely for MacBooks that go into secure areas. For at least some places, management tools (Casper, Boxtone, etc) have methods that disable the camera by policy, which may be good enough.
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