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iPhone and iPad Are First Consumer Devices Cleared for NATO Classified Data

jakebrosy said:
I suspect that a device authorized to carry Top Secret documents is strictly managed and has no unauthorized apps. And I'm pretty sure Face ID is not an option. But that's a nice attempt at a troll.
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Signal app is unauthorized (unapproved and unsecure according to Department of Defense Office of Inspector General findings)

www.abc.net.au

Pentagon watchdog releases report on Hegseth's use of Signal app

The 84-page report finds US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated policy and could have put American troops at risk when he used the Signal app to discuss military strikes in Yemen.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

The Pentagon watchdog has released a report that finds US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could have put American troops at risk when he used the Signal app to discuss military strikes in Yemen.

The findings in the 84-page report, by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, had been leaked and widely reported before their formal release on Thursday, local time.

The inspector general found Mr Hegseth's use of a commercial messaging app and his personal device did not comply with the department's policies.

The report said:

"The Secretary sent information identifying the quantity and strike times of manned US aircraft over hostile territory over an unapproved, unsecure network approximately 2 to 4 hours before the execution of those strikes."
 
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There are Android devices that are used by various government agencies and the military. Android fans often point to this as proof Android is more secure than iOS.

What they fail to realize is those are not only highly “managed” devices, but use modified Android that’s been locked down so tight you can’t do anything with them other than the very specific tasks they’re allowed to run.

While these iPhones are no doubt also managed (like enterprise/corporate devices) they’re still running vanilla iOS 26.

This is a big deal from a security perspective and is a win for Apple.
 
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I intend this as neither a positive nor negative statement, but the fact that Apple is an American company is probably a major factor here.
 
Pezimak said:
I watched a video today where they said the button you press to 'ASK' apps not to track you does nothing lol, because no devs changed their apps to do anything with it. Plus then we have the system scanning your device anything illegal it programmes it to search for.

Apples devices used to be secure, but it seems more and more through policies and business decisions chosen by Apple they are reverting on that.

Still Face ID works well and seems to be secure enough.
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Would love to hear literally one of their sources because https://www.xda-developers.com/apples-app-tracking-costing-billions/
 
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They have a TYPO in the url of this article, it says NANO and should have been NATO in the url.. 🙂

--- they fixed it.. 🙂
 
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sw1tcher said:
Signal app is unauthorized (unapproved and unsecure according to Department of Defense Office of Inspector General findings)

www.abc.net.au

Pentagon watchdog releases report on Hegseth's use of Signal app

The 84-page report finds US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated policy and could have put American troops at risk when he used the Signal app to discuss military strikes in Yemen.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

The Pentagon watchdog has released a report that finds US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could have put American troops at risk when he used the Signal app to discuss military strikes in Yemen.

The findings in the 84-page report, by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, had been leaked and widely reported before their formal release on Thursday, local time.

The inspector general found Mr Hegseth's use of a commercial messaging app and his personal device did not comply with the department's policies.

The report said:

"The Secretary sent information identifying the quantity and strike times of manned US aircraft over hostile territory over an unapproved, unsecure network approximately 2 to 4 hours before the execution of those strikes."
Click to expand...
The problem isn't signal, arguably more secure then iMessage.. The issue is the device its being used on might not be secure for this type of comm's.. He was using a non MDM managed device, so thats a fail right there..
 
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For the US DoD, devices that are approved for Top Secret Classified information are Samsung devices with KNOX enterprise suite.

Then recently, DoD approved the Google Pixel devices as well.

As for Samsung Knox, I believe it's more secure than the iPhone.
 
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And THIS is why efforts like in West Virginia to break end to end encryption (build in a backdoor) is bad. Once you have a backdoor then it's just a matter of time before a clever hacker uses that. You need the sort of security that even Apple can't get past.
 
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Whether its either Apple or Android devices, they have strict MDM policies set on them. So its not like a regular consumer devices.

Among other reasons why the US military or DoD has approved Samsung Galaxy devices especially for the rugged series like the Xcover6 Pro because there more rugged especially when used in the battlefield.

Still think Samsung Knox is hands down when handling classified information.
 
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Pezimak said:
I watched a video today where they said the button you press to 'ASK' apps not to track you does nothing lol, because no devs changed their apps to do anything with it. Plus then we have the system scanning your device anything illegal it programmes it to search for.

Apples devices used to be secure, but it seems more and more through policies and business decisions chosen by Apple they are reverting on that.

Still Face ID works well and seems to be secure enough.
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There is a unique id tied to you and your device, apps are allowed to use this to track you for related ads. They’re are other ways to track you as well. If you “Ask app not to track you” then the app gets a fake id and can’t track you in that way. The app has no idea what you answer with. But a lot of apps don’t use that to track you. There are so many other ways.
 
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It is ironic, as the VPN implemented backdoor is still active and exploited. Guess what? Every person involved in NATO uses VPN.
 
This reminded me I never saw MIE support announced with the release of M5 products after the iPhones late last year.

Apple updated their Platform Security PDF in January with mentions of M5 MIE.


Memory Integrity Enforcement

Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE), is a comprehensive memory safety defense for Apple platforms available on A19 and M5 processors or later. MIE is built on the robust foundation provided by Apple’s secure memory allocators, coupled with Enhanced Memory Tagging Extension (EMTE) in synchronous mode, and supported by extensive Tag Confidentiality Enforcement policies. MIE is built in to Apple silicon and offers unparalleled, always-on memory safety protection for key attack surfaces including the kernel, while maintaining the power and performance that users expect. For more information, see Memory Integrity Enforcement: A complete vision for memory safety in Apple devices on Apple Security Research blog.
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(Page 8)
IMG_2031.jpeg
 
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iphonefreak450 said:
Whether its either Apple or Android devices, they have strict MDM policies set on them. So its not like a regular consumer devices.

Among other reasons why the US military or DoD has approved Samsung Galaxy devices especially for the rugged series like the Xcover6 Pro because there more rugged especially when used in the battlefield.

Still think Samsung Knox is hands down when handling classified information.
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You can think that all you want but it doesn’t make it true.

iPhones have been approved by the DoD for years now. Google Pixels were approved recently. Devices used for top secret information are the heavily modified devices I mentioned above and have little in common with Android consumer devices.
 
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iphonefreak450 said:
For the US DoD, devices that are approved for Top Secret Classified information are Samsung devices with KNOX enterprise suite.

Then recently, DoD approved the Google Pixel devices as well.

As for Samsung Knox, I believe it's more secure than the iPhone.
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Yeah, until the stable geniuse use private devices with non approved apps; hell even copy journalists on their messages because of human snafu - totally secure
 
Apple delivers the best option for consumers in the area of privacy and this solidifies it. Very happy in using my iPad and iPhone knowing that my data is always safe and secure.
 
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ghanwani said:
This is all a big joke. Look up "salt typhoon".
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Huh? Salt Typhoon, for one thing, targeted Windows and Linux-based ISP and governmental systems, and two, is largely mitigated. The most interesting thing about it is that Drumpf_admin_2 disbanded the team that was investigating it (and many other things), and then proceeded to offer a money reward for information about it. Derp. Now, it seems to be in the hands of the legislature and they are slowly continuing to gather information, although likely up against a Chinese state actor. So, Salt Typhoon is certainly a cause for concern, but doesn't have much to do with Apple or its devices or their relative security.

The second Trump administration fired all members of the Cyber Safety Review Board before it could complete its investigation of the intrusion.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Typhoon#cite_note-17"><span>[</span>17<span>]</span></a> In April 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced a US$10 million bounty for information on individuals associated with Salt Typhoon.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Typhoon#cite_note-18"><span>[</span>18<span>]</span></a>

In December 2024, Verizon and AT&T announced that they had contained the incident and that the threat actor no longer had access to their networks.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Typhoon#cite_note-19"><span>[</span>19<span>]</span></a> On June 12, 2025 Senator Maria Cantwell, the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, wrote letters to the CEOs of AT&T and Verizon requesting they provide detailed information regarding the cybersecurity investigations conducted at both companies. Senator Cantwell asked for a list of all vulnerabilities identified that allowed the attackers in, as well as remediation plans and documentation supporting the claim that Salt Typhoon was no longer present in their networks.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Typhoon#cite_note-20"><span>[</span>20<span>]</span></a>
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What is this approval for? someone in a nato office? I highly doubt it’s approved for battlefield carry. The Israelis who basically have access to iOS code probably have fifteen different ways to access and track your iPhone. If they have it there’s a good chance the Russians also have it. I just don’t see this being that secure. Military is a different level of caution vs civilian.
 
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