iOS 5 Certified For Government Use In Australia

ZDNet reports the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) – the organization that reviews and certifies software and devices for use by government agencies in Australia – has certified iOS 5, allowing iPhones and iPads to be used to transmit “certain classified information”.

Today, the DSD cleared iOS for government agencies to use so long as the information that was being communicated and stored had a classification no higher than PROTECTED.

PROTECTED is the lowest level of classification in the Australian Government Security Classification system aside from publicly available information. The other three classifications are CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET and TOP SECRET in order of sensitivity.

As confirmed in the iOS Hardening Configuration Guide, released by the DSD, the certification applies to iPhones, iPads and iPods running iOS 5.1 or higher. The guide includes a series of how-tos and explanations of iOS security, passcode management, iOS device deployment, and “example scenarios” to better understand the iOS file system architecture, data protection, and the way applications can register URL handlers to open documents.

As iPhones and iPads gain traction in the enterprise, government agencies may become another market for Apple to further consider with functionalities specifically aimed at improving the security of iOS.