UK Government Approves Samsung Smartphone Use In Public Sector

Samsung smartphones have been certified for use within the UK public sector after government guidance was released that explains how to best use them in the workplace.

The end user devices [EUD] security guidance for Samsung Knox came after months of testing by the Communications and Electronics Security Group [CESG] that provides assistance as part of the Cabinet Office End User Devices program.

“Our technology is widely used in both the UK public and private sector, and with this approval we are committed to working more closely with government departments and agencies that need to maintain high levels of security and data confidentiality on their mobile devices,” stated Graham Long, VP of the enterprise business team for Samsung UK & Ireland.

Samsung Knox is the company’s enterprise security solution that it hopes will embed bring your own device [BYOD] policies within the Android ecosystem. For IT managers it provides improvements in terms of core security aspects as well as TrustZone-protected Certificate Management, dual-factor Biometric Authentication and Real-Time Protection for System Integrity.

Knox-enabled smartphones that are available in the UK and covered by the CESG guidance include the Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4 and the recently released Galaxy S5. Those devices are in addition to the ones included within previous guidance that was issued by CESG in relation to Samsung devices that run on Google Android 4.2.2.

“CESG’s acknowledgment of Samsung Knox is testament to the high standard of security offered by the Samsung Knox platform and a further milestone as we work to grow our relationships with government organizations and large corporate enterprises worldwide,” added Injong Rhee, senior VP of Knox Business at Samsung’s IT & Mobile Communications division.

The UK has followed in the footsteps of the US Department of Defence [DoD] and Defence Information Systems Agency that also published a Security Technical Implementation Guide related to Samsung Knox back in May 2013 that approved devices for use by DoD staff.