RIM announced that its upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices have received FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) 140-2 certification ahead of its 2013 launch. RIM notes that this is the first time it received the certification before its devices were commercially available. The struggling Canadian manufacturer is bolstering its reputation as a secure platform and is hoping to convince government and enterprise users to wait for BlackBerry 10 devices instead of switching to the iPhone or Android.
“Achieving FIPS 140-2 certification means that BlackBerry 10 is ready to meet the strict security requirements of government agencies and enterprises at launch,” said 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.”
Making customers wait might be a difficult task as several US government agencies recently jumped ship or are planing to jump ship in the coming months. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that it would outfit its 17,000 employees with iPhones, while the U.S. Defense Department is looking at Android, iOS as well as BlackBerry devices for its lucrative smartphone contract.
[Via RIM]