The S.S. BlackBerry keeps springing leaks when it comes to its business with the United States military. Just over a week after the United States Army placed an order for 7,000 Samsung phones that will be used to replace legacy BlackBerry devices, CrackBerry reports that the U.S. Air Force has similarly ordered 5,000 iPhones that will also replace older BlackBerry phones. Even worse, CrackBerry says that this is just the start and that all Air Force staff will have their BlackBerry devices replaced with iOS and Android devices at some point in the future.
BlackBerry is clearly not happy about this situation and it’s released a statement letting the Air Force know it will rue the day it switched from BlackBerry to rival operating systems.
“The ongoing threat of cyber attacks requires organizations to be vigilant about mobile security,” BlackBerry writes. “For customers that have the highest security requirements, such as those in government, there is nothing more secure than a BlackBerry device managed by a BlackBerry Enterprise Server… Our competitors have not been tested in the field or subjected to the long-term rigors of high stress applications, making their security model difficult to trust. BlackBerry remains the best option for governments around the world.”
While it’s true that Samsung has had a lot of hiccups in its first attempt at deploying a comprehensive smartphone security solution, it also hasn’t stopped the U.S Department of Defense from adopting Samsung phones. If the military can successfully deploy iOS and Android without compromising its members’ security then it will be a major blow to BlackBerry’s claim that organizations need BlackBerry devices if they value security above everything else. That said, if adopting iOS and Android leads to major security breaches for the DOD then BlackBerry will undoubtedly get the last laugh.
