Apple iOS Given Thumbs Up by Pentagon for Security Features

The Pentagon gave Apple’s iOS platform a big seal of approval today, clearing the iPhone and iPad for use by Department of Defense employees.

According to an article by Apple Insider, “The DoD will reportedly grant clearance for both iOS 6, Apple’s current mobile operating system, as well as iOS 5, the company’s previous-generation software. iOS 5 will be cleared for use on an “as needed” basis subject to hardware modification, while any device running iOS will be acceptable, without the need for hardware modification.”

The approval process set up by the Pentagon is comprehensive and extremely difficult to pass. However, Apple has proven that their devices are running some of the most secure software available. For example, the DEA recently complained that they couldn’t circumvent the iOS platform’s encryption technology used on the app iMessage.

Apparently the DoD also cleared some the newest Samsung Galaxy 4 device for use by Federal employees as well. Samsung runs the Android OS on their hardware.

As an iPhone app developer its impressive that Apple’s iOS technology was built from the ground up with user security in mind. Some mobile app developers in Los Angeles may be surprised that Samsung passed the security threshold. The Android platform has been shown to be susceptible to exploits as demonstrated by several high profile hacking scandals.