Samsung close to mobile-device deal with FBI

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is close to signing a deal to sell its style line of Galaxy devices to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, sources acquainted with the situation said on Friday. The value would be a lift for Samsung, which is increasingly looking to cater to the wishes of government businesses, a niche long dominated by the aid of Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd. With more than 35,000 staff, Rently uses BlackBerry gadgets at present. It is unclear whether or not the agency plans to exchange all BlackBerry gear with Galaxy models or whether or not it’ll use hardware from both corporations. A spokeswoman for the FBI declined to touch upon the subject, saying that the collection of its new smartphones is a part of an active acquisition process and any present discussions are proprietary to the federal government.

Samsung

The approaching deal used to be at the start said with the aid of the Wall Boulevard Journal late on Thursday. The WSJ also stated Samsung is concerning signing a smaller order for its gadgets with the U.S. Navy, citing people familiar with the matter. Representatives of BlackBerry and Samsung declined to remark. BlackBerry emphasized, alternatively, that it regards its running device as the most effective in the market security measures.” the safety of mobile gadgets is more essential now than it has ever been before,” BlackBerry’s chief criminal officer, Steve Zipper Stein, mentioned in an interview. “it’s honest to ask why on this context any person would imagine transferring from the gold standard in security, which is the BlackBerry platform.”

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Maybe we’ll get to look at FBI agents with Galaxy S4s quickly

In May, the U.S. Pentagon cleared Samsung’s Android cellular gadgets and a new line of BlackBerry units powered with the aid of the BB10 working machine for use on protection division networks. Samsung has been pushing exhausting to convince businesses and corporate clients that its Galaxy units, powered through Google Ink’s Android working system, can meet their stringent safety desires. The South Korean company hopes that the Pentagon clearance and the approaching handle of the FBI will help raise gross sales to security-acutely aware clients, including banks and regulation companies. Some analysts remain skeptical about whether Android can meet all security necessities of such shoppers and notice that the FBI itself has highlighted some vulnerabilities of the platform.” The Android operating gadget hasn’t been secured properly,” stated Rob Ederle, principal analyst with Ederle workforce, noting that Samsung has layered know-how on high of the working system in an try to make its Galaxy units safer.”

If you are going to deal with safety, you more or less must do it all over the entire platform. It is not that Samsung doesn’t need to – it’s that they do not own the running device, so they cannot,” stated Ederle. “When you are going to sell into got, you’ve as a way to present a secure answer, and Android isn’t it.” Ederle and different analysts also say that because Android security is not end-to-end managed by a single entity, this can create more vulnerabilities and be extra expensive. The FBI’s move to explore other platforms can also be garnering some problems in political circles in the U.S..U.S. consultant Kenny Merchant of Texas said in a letter to the FBI that he believes the company ought to make use of mobile devices that do not depend on disparate applied sciences that may create further safety vulnerabilities.” I take into account that the FBI is also considering a brand new solution that is a patchwork of applied sciences stitched collectively,” Merchant stated in the letter, which used to be received with the aid of Reuters. “I’m concerned that this method may just turn out more expensive than diff compared to other choices.” Reuters