Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Mobile & Wireless

BlackBerry PlayBook Gets U.S. Government Security Stamp

BlackBerry PlayBook Becomes Security Certified for U.S. Government

BlackBerry PlayBook Becomes Security Certified for U.S. Government

Research In Motion announced this week that it has received FIPS 140-2 certification its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, making it certified for deployment within U.S. federal government agencies. RIM claims that 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). iPads are used by many government and military workers, but the device doesn’t carry the FIPS 140-2 certification, though Apple has reportedly applied for the certification for iPads and iPhones.

BlackBerry PlayBook Security FIPS 140-2“RIM is pleased to announce that the BlackBerry PlayBook is the first tablet approved under FIPS for use within the U.S. federal government,” said Scott Totzke, Senior Vice President, BlackBerry Security at Research In Motion. “This certification demonstrates our continued commitment to meeting the needs of security-conscious organizations and enables the U.S. federal government to buy with confidence knowing that the PlayBook meets their computing policy requirements for protecting sensitive information.”

RIM’s answer to Apple’s high-flying iPad, the BlackBerry PlayBook sports a 7-inch high resolution display, and offers true multi-tasking capabilities. While a native email client isn’t built into the device, which shocked many, it allows for secure pairing with BlackBerry smartphones, which lets users access their email, calendar, address book and other features. I am currently evaluating a BlackBerry Playbook and will be publishing an official product review shortly.

Suggested Reading: Why the BlackBerry PlayBook Shows Us The Future of Enterprise Security — Especially if it Fails

Written By

For more than 15 years, Mike Lennon has been closely monitoring the threat landscape and analyzing trends in the National Security and enterprise cybersecurity space. In his role at SecurityWeek, he oversees the editorial direction of the publication and is the Director of several leading security industry conferences around the world.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Mobile & Wireless

Infonetics Research has shared excerpts from its Mobile Device Security Client Software market size and forecasts report, which tracks enterprise and consumer security client...

Mobile & Wireless

Samsung smartphone users warned about CVE-2023-21492, an ASLR bypass vulnerability exploited in the wild, likely by a spyware vendor.

Malware & Threats

Apple’s cat-and-mouse struggles with zero-day exploits on its flagship iOS platform is showing no signs of slowing down.

Fraud & Identity Theft

A team of researchers has demonstrated a new attack method that affects iPhone owners who use Apple Pay and Visa payment cards. The vulnerabilities...

Mobile & Wireless

Critical security flaws expose Samsung’s Exynos modems to “Internet-to-baseband remote code execution” attacks with no user interaction. Project Zero says an attacker only needs...

Mobile & Wireless

Apple rolled out iOS 16.3 and macOS Ventura 13.2 to cover serious security vulnerabilities.

Mobile & Wireless

Two vulnerabilities in Samsung’s Galaxy Store that could be exploited to install applications or execute JavaScript code by launching a web page.

Mobile & Wireless

Asus patched nine WiFi router security defects, including a highly critical 2018 vulnerability that exposes users to code execution attacks.