From: FierceMobileGovernment

State officials strip out GPS and Google

By Greg Slabodkin

Concerned about the security of Google’s Android mobile operating system, the  Russian government has created its own “secure” tablet computer, both the  hardened operating system and the hardware, for use by state industries and  government officials. Developed by the Russian Central Scientific Research  Institute, the RoMOS operating system (it stands for Russian Mobile Operating  System) was exhibited on the sidelines of the IFA conference in Berlin last  week, according to Agence France-Presse, which first reported  the story.

Although the Russian tablet closely resembles Google’s Android OS, the  Kremlin’s homegrown, stripped-down and encrypted version leverages Russia’s  GLONASS global positioning system for navigation and geo-positioning, rather  than America’s Global Positioning System network, according to reports. Russian  Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin viewed a demo of the tablet at the IFA  event.

“The operating system has all the functional capabilities of an Android  operating system but none of its hidden features that send users’ private data  to Google headquarters,” Russia media quoted Andrei Starikovsky, general  director of the scientific production unit of the National Research Nuclear  University, as telling Rogozin.

The 10-inch tablet is expected to be available by the end of the year at a  price of around 15,000 rubles ($460). The targeted audiences for this secure  tablet are the Russian military, government agencies and Russian industry. The  military version of the tablet will be housed in a rugged, shock-and water-proof  casing.

With the growing use of mobile devices by federal agencies, the U.S.  government has launched its own initiatives to secure Google’s open-source  Android OS.

Given the widespread popularity of Android, in December 2011, the Defense  Information Systems Agency approved  a Security Technical Implementation Guide for Android version 2.2, the first  secure Android operating system-based platform that meets DOD Directive 8100.2  security requirements, which mandate the use of secure, multipurpose internet  mail extension (S/MIME) in conjunction with a DoD common access card and  interoperability with DoD’s public key infrastructure.

The secure Android operating system was approved by DISA for use on Dell  Streak 5 smartphone/tablet hybrids with device management software from Good  Technology, who collaborated with Dell on writing a set of Application  Programming Interfaces to shut off components of the device that could  potentially leak data.