NSA wants bulletproof smartphone, tablet security

The National Security Agency, America's high-tech spy agency, which also plays a key role in approving hardware and software for use by the Department of Defense, wants to be able to outfit military personnel with commercial smartphones and tablets -- but based on a NSA security design.

The forces in the Department of Defense, including the U.S. Army and Air Force, are piloting several different commercially available smartphones and tablets which the NSA is working to harden and secure, said Debora Plunkett, director of the NSA's information assurance directorate, speaking at the Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit 2011 here today. "It's not our intention to rely on any one platform," she said. The goal is to have perhaps four main devices, plus a couple of infrastructure support services, and let U.S. forces pick the one they like best, she said.