BlackBerry Secure Work Space For iOS And Android Cleared For US Government Use

BlackBerry Secure Work Space, a feature within BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES 10) which separates corporate and personal data and apps on iOS and Android devices, has been cleared for US and Canadian government use after it received Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 certification.

FIPS 140-2 is deemed to be an important benchmark for security-conscious organisations and is issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to products approved for use by US government agencies and other regulated industries which collect, transfer, share and disseminate sensitive information.

BlackBerry smartphones have long been the industry standard for US government agencies, but this latest approval for Secure Work Space paves the way for other handsets to be used for official use.

BlackBerry Secure Work Space

“The FIPS 140-2 validation for Secure Work Space for iOS and Android demonstrates the multi-platform security capabilities that BlackBerry delivers for customers, helping governments and enterprises alike to deploy third-party devices with more confidence and less risk,” says Scott Totzke, senior vice president, Security Group at BlackBerry.

Secure Work Space brings many features of BlackBerry Balance, which effectively creates two separate containers on BlackBerry 10 handsets, one for corporate and one for personal use, to iOS and Android smartphones.

By separating business data and applications from the rest of the phone, administrators are able to manage and secure corporate assets on the handset will still allowing employees to enjoy freedom to use their devices without any restrictions

BES 10.2 improved support for iPhone and Android users, allowing admins to manage Secure Work Space containers and create new distribution rules for the latest versions of each operating system, while it also added compatibility for iOS 7’s background email sync.

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