Samsung Nears Signing of Mobile-Device Deal with FBI, U.S. Navy

Both The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported that Samsung is close to signing a deal to provide mobile devices to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Navy. The FBI, in particular, has over 35,000 employees who currently use BlackBerry devices. Whether BlackBerry devices would be replaced by Android-powered Galaxy models or whether handsets from both manufacturers would be used are still not clear at this point.

Some analysts see the forthcoming government deal as proof that mobile has arrived in the enterprise.

An FBI spokesperson did not comment, stating that the new smartphone selection is part of an ongoing acquisition process and that discussions are proprietary to the government. Samsung representatives also declined to comment on the matter.

BlackBerry did not comment on the reported mobile-device deal, but a company spokesperson pointed out that BlackBerry’s operating system has the best security features in the market. In a Reuters interview, BlackBerry chief legal officer Steve Zipperstein said, “It is fair to ask why in this context anyone would consider moving from the gold standard in security, which is the BlackBerry platform.”

In May 2013, the United States Pentagon cleared Samsung’s mobile devices, as well as the new line of BlackBerry smartphones that run on the BB10 OS, for use by the Defense Department’s networks.

Meanwhile, Samsung has been making efforts to convince its corporate customers and government agencies that its Galaxy line of devices can meet security requirements. The South Korean company looks forward to the forthcoming deal with the FBI and the Pentagon clearance to increase sales to banks, law firms, and other clients that put a high premium on security.

A report that was sponsored by EMC, VMware, Cisco, and Carahsoft revealed that federal workers used their personal devices for both work and play. The report also uncovered that 85 percent of the respondents downloaded apps to their devices, thus placing the device and the data stored in the mobile device at risk.

To secure mobile devices, Samsung introduced a solution called KNOX, which has an app container that separates personal apps and information from business apps and sensitive company data.

CSO Online talked to Swarna Podila, senior manager for the Enterprise Mobility Group at Symantec. She described two ways to secure business data on mobile devices. Podila explained, “The first is protecting data at the device level and the second is protecting it at the app level. Protecting it at the device level -- via tools such as MDM -- is great for IT, but also results in a heavy footprint on devices, which can fly in the face of the hoped for user benefits of mobility, such as increased productivity and greater work flexibility.”

She said that the alternative is to protect data from an app level, which is traditionally achieved via sandboxing—a component present in Samsung’s KNOX. (KOM) Link. Link.