BlackBerry 10 gets security nod ahead of launch

Research In Motion has confirmed their BlackBerry 10 platform is now FIPS 140-2 certified ahead of the product launch.

The significance of the certification enables government agencies to deploy the smartphones from the offset, becoming the first time BlackBerry products have been FIPS certified ahead of release.

RIM says the FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) certification provides confidence to security-conscious organisations, including government agencies, companies in regulated industries and other organisations dealing with sensitive information.

“Achieving FIPS 140-2 certification means that BlackBerry 10 is ready to meet the strict security requirements of government agencies and enterprises at launch,” says Michael K. Brown, vice president, Security Product Management and Research at RIM.

“What differentiates BlackBerry is that it integrates end-to-end security, and includes certified encryption algorithms for data at rest and data in transit.

"No other mobile solution has achieved the level of security accreditation that the BlackBerry solution has.”

FIPS 140 is issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to coordinate the requirements and standards for certifying cryptographic modules.

"IDC expects the mobile enterprise security market to experience a high rate of growth from 2012 to 2016,” says Stacy Crook, Program Manager for Mobile Enterprise research at IDC.

"Maintaining the BlackBerry solution's reputation for security while introducing an enhanced user experience gives BlackBerry 10 the opportunity to be a highly competitive platform in the government, enterprise and consumer sectors.”

In addition to FIPS certifications, RIM says their BlackBerry products have continuously passed rigorous security assessments from a variety of other independent organisations around the world.

“Achieving FIPS certification for an entirely new platform in a very short period of time, and before launch, is quite remarkable and a testament to the dedication of our security team,” says David MacFarlane, director, Security Certifications at RIM.

“BlackBerry 10 will deliver security, a superior user experience, the ability to separately manage corporate and personal data on the same device, and ease of manageability for IT managers in an enterprise or government environment.”