Obama Finally Ditches BlackBerry, Switches To Samsung Galaxy S4 (arstechnica.com)

Obama has finally been able to ditch his BlackBerry handset, something which he was stuck with for more than six years. Mr. President appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and told the audience that it was only this year that he was able to get a real smartphone. There's one caveat, though. The Android smartphone Obama has gotten is a "hardened" version, with pretty much all the unrequired features removed from it. Laughing with the audience, Obama said, the phone feels like the fake toy handset kids play with. ArsTechnica, citing documentations, claim that Obama is using a Samsung Galaxy S4 (a phone that was released in 2013), as it is the only smartphone currently supported by the Defense Information Systems Agency. From the report: The S4 is currently the only device supported under DISA's DOD Mobility Classified Capability-Secret (DMCC-S) program. In 2014, a number of Samsung devices were the first to win approval from the National Security Agency under its National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) program -- largely because of Samsung's KNOX security technology. And the S4, layered with services managed by DISA, is the first commercial phone to get approval to connect to the Secret classified DOD SIPRNet network. DISA has been working with vendors and the National Security Agency's Information Assurance Directorate to develop a Top Secret-capable mobile device for use by the Defense Department and the national leadership both on the move and within secure facilities. But currently, the highest level of classification that can be handled by commercial devices under the DMCC program is at the Secret level. Secretary of State John Kerry was a DMCC-S early adopter, and he served as a beta tester of the hardened Galaxy S4.

Comments

Are foreign devices fully secure?

[itamihn]

I don't know if I'd trust foreign technology for devices handling such sensitive information.

Re:Are foreign devices fully secure?

[Anonymous Coward]

South Korea is an ally.

Actually, I don't think people realize just how close the US Military and South Korea are. The DOD probably trusts devices made in South Korea far more than they would devices made in the US due to the massive influence they have in South Korea. Remember we still have US troops stationed in South Korea and South Korea (conceptually) relies on US support to keep North Korea from invading.

Re: Are foreign devices fully secure?

[sumdumass]

I'm pretty sure there is a buy American made first law on the books which would have favored Apple.

However, in this particular instance I think the Samsung move was appropriate because they would allow a complete auditing of the device and software as well as control of the updates and such. Samsung will likely sign custum roms or even grant the secret service access to a key to sign themselves. Apple on the other hand, would likely see attempts at this as a means to backdoor their security and fight it like with the san Bernardino phone.

Just way more flexibility in the super secret security department i guess.

Re:Why not be like Hillary?

[sphealey]

= = = Get your own phone, server, whatever. There are no punishments or consequences for anyone involved. = = =

Yeah, Karl Rove proved that when he routed 22 million W Administration e-mails through a Republican Party server which was claimed to have no archiving or backup process.

sPh

Re:Can change the battery and load custom roms unl

[phishybongwaters]

What an utter load of crap you just spouted