Samsung secure KNOX platform gets government blessing in China and France

Samsung announced in a press release today that it has received government certifications for its security platform, KNOX, from the appropriate regulatory bodies in China and France. Both the China Information Security Certification Center (ISCCC) and France’s National Agency of Computer Security (ANSSI) have given Samsung’s secure mobile platform their blessing…

With the approval gained, Samsung is now free to start partnering with companies and bodies which are heavily regulated. Those can include government authorities, ministries and finance, and could see Samsung start to compete more earnestly in the enterprise market with the likes of BlackBerry and Apple, who both have garnered confidence from numerous authorities across the globe.

“Samsung KNOX is unmatched in its ability to deliver trusted mobile security across an all-encompassing robust platform,” said Dr. Injong Rhee, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D, Software and Services, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “Our market leadership, innovative technology and worldwide government certification is second to none, and we look forward to giving more people the opportunity to operate mobility with complete safety.”

Samsung first launched its KNOX mobile security program to try and bring better protection to Android devices, with the hope that enterprises and regulated bodies would trust the platform more. Android, as it stood then, was largely regarded as an insecure ecosystem, and one which wasn’t safe when it came to transferring critical and private information. With KNOX, Samsung device owners could securely separate mobile and company accounts and services, ensuring that no data that shouldn’t be seen widely was figuratively kept under lock and key.

In the words of Samsung:

KNOX incorporates Security Enhanced (SE) Android developed by NSA (National Security Agency) and integrity management services implemented in both hardware and the Android framework. At the application layer, KNOX offers a container solution that separates business and personal use of a mobile device. This separation is supported by SE Android and file system level encryption, offering protection of business data and applications from data leakage and virus and malware attacks.

Since then, Android has become more secure-able than ever before, even inspiring BlackBerry to create an Android smartphone which it said it wouldn’t do until they could secure it.

While it’s unlikely that hundreds of big corporations in China and France will start exclusively buying Samsung smartphones for their employees, it does mean that staff will be able to bring their own Samsung phones to work and have them securely connected to their work services and accounts.