Wednesday, December 28, 2011

DOD Approves Android Devices


Security and technology just don’t play well together. Is that what you think, or have heard? Well they can, with limitations it seems. If you have never had to deal with Department of Defense (DOD) or Department of Energy (DOE) security, count your blessings.

Neither of these agencies slack when it comes to security. Before I moved over to software companies, I held security clearances for many government agencies in order to access and repair hardware and software inside facilities secured with men carrying automatic weapons.

I used to call it the place where time stood still. That has two meanings. First, anything you could do at an enterprise client’s site in an hour would take 6-8 hours. Hours to check software in, hours to get it approved, hours to get approval to install it, hours to get an admin to login so it could be installed. Second, employees were never allowed to have a radio inside, let’s not even talk about a cell phone.

So the times they are a changin’. I read post about the DOD allowing Android devices on their network, sort of. You can read it HERE. The short story is, 1 OS (Android 2.2), 1 device (Dell Venue). No access to classified data, no access to the Android Marketplace.

The first thought was are you kidding me? My experience has taught me that this speed of getting this type of device in the building is a huge step forward in the blending of technology and security.

No comments:

Post a Comment