Today marks a big day for Samsung Mobile Electronics, as five of their Android based devices that include the KNOX security software are said to have been approved by the U.S. Department of Defense. According to Korea Biz Wire Samsung’s five devices that are now sanctioned as usable devices by presumably any and all U.S. military officials are the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 Active, the Galaxy Note 3, and two tablets, one of which is from Samsung’s new “Pro” line, the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and the Galaxy note 10.1 2014. This broadens the selection on the Approved Products List, giving the DoD more choice and potentially the ability to find a device that fits them best.
Since KNOX’s implementation within Samsung’s handsets, Samsung has been putting a lot of focus on making their handsets as secure as possible in hopes to draw in more corporate and government clients, and it would seem that all of their efforts are starting to pay off. Government contracts would be a big pull for Samsung, especially since they can now compete with Blackberry in the same sector officially. Before Samsung could attempt to grab some of the clients that Blackberry has been known to serve for years, they would need their devices to be cleared as secure enough products for use. That day seems to have finally come which could mean we’ll start to see a shift in the number of U.S. military and government officials who use Blackberry devices.
Another big improvement for Samsung is that it will be implementing and installing STIG 2.0 software into all KNOX embedded devices. The Department of Defense has a high level of security protocols and policies which is has regulated must be used with all IT devices that are used by military officials and carry sensitive information, and STIG 2.0 is in compliance with those standards. Samsung is already a leading OEM in the consumer market and is growing in the B2B sector, and with these 5 KNOX enabled devices being approved by the U.S. Department of Defense they stand to make some great strides with military and government employees as well.