RIM has just announced that the PlayBook has received FIPS 140-2 certification, making the BlackBerry PlayBook the first tablet certified for deployment within U.S. federal government agencies. No other tablet on the market has gained FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) certification from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which is required under the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). While some sites will claim that the iPad has made significant moves in government, from what we can tell it’s for very minimal use cases such as presentations and there doesn’t seem to be any significant deployment to date.
According to Bloomberg, the US Military has been testing tablets across all branches. The services are looking to tablets to replace laptops as well as paper manuals, maps, biometric devices and some communications tools. The U.S. Army is leaning toward the PlayBook because RIM “addressed security concerns from the get-go,” said Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dosmann, who oversees mobile device pilot- testing for the Army’s cybersecurity division. Security remains an issue for Apple and may hold back wider use of iPads, he said. Continue reading ‘The PlayBook Will Be the First Tablet to Truly Enter Government’
While the WaPo likes to paint the picture as a massive shift in the way government is doing business, it seems the ways they’re actually implementing the use of these devices is pretty minimal. One such example was that the sign-in book at the reception desk was replaced with an iPad. Another example was showing video of an arrest to ATF employees with an iPad. These devices aren’t exactly transmitting highly sensitive data but do we trust employees using these devices to keep data safe?
Another question we should be asking ourselves is whether or not federal employees should even be able to use tax dollars on these devices just because of consumer hype. While many will claim that tablets increase productivity or the latest Android device has more processor power, allowing them to work faster, it’s probably just excuses to get the latest toy. There’s a reason governments shut out their devices from downloading apps and fooling around on the web: because it’s tax dollars and they have to be accountable for the time spent and security possibly compromised.
The US Military is making a bold and impressive move by creating a smartphone and desktop app store for soldiers. The app store will be called the Army Marketplace and it will feature applications for both smartphones and desktop computers to help soldiers and new recruits. The app marketplace will also feature an agile software development process, where requests are put in for apps and developers can respond to the request and choose to build.
The main problem the app store is facing right now is device authentication. BlackBerry is the only smartphone certified to handle government data, and it can really only carry mail. The IT policies generally shut out all applications, and according to Lt. Col. Gregory Motes, chief of the Army’s new Mobile Applications Branch, “we don’t have a solution for authenticating applications or secure websites.” If a smartphone were to win authentication for apps, it would surely be a BlackBerry with policies that allow certain types of applications and block features that could reveal secure data. Continue reading ‘First Look At The US Military’s Smartphone and Desktop App Store’
We have seen a dramatic increase over the past couple of years in government officials using social media to reach out to constituents. In Canada, MPs were not able to download the Twitter and Facebook applications, likely due to security concerns, but the House of Commons recently gave MPs and certain political staff the go-ahead to download Twitter and Facebook apps on government-issued BlackBerrys. Continue reading ‘Canadian Government Now Able To Download Twitter and Facebook Apps’
Open Data Ottawa’s hackathon kicked off today along with the International Open Data Hackathon. Ottawa’s Open Data event is of particular importance considering it’s not only the capital of Canada, but Ottawa itself has gone through several periods of tech recession and explosion, making for a city with quite a few talented programmers.
