Russian Officials Dump iPads For Samsung Tablets Over Spy Fears

wiredmikey writes: "Russian government officials have swapped their iPads for Samsung tablets to ensure tighter security, the telecoms minister told news agencies on Wednesday. Journalists spotted that ministers at a cabinet meeting were no longer using Apple tablets, and minister Nikolai Nikiforov confirmed the changeover "took place not so long ago." He said the ministers' new Samsungs were "specially protected devices that can be used to work with confidential information." This isn't the first time Russian powers have had concerns over mobile. In August 2012, Russia unveiled a prototype tablet with its own "almost Android" mobile OS that has the remarkably familiar feel of an Android but with bolstered encryption. In an even more paranoid move, this past July a Russian state service in charge of safeguarding Kremlin communications was looking to purchase an array of old-fashioned typewriters to prevent leaks from computer hardware."

Re:Zero info in article

[confused one]

But they can do this... Whereas with the iPad they have to take Apple's word for it. This may be the limitation that drove them to Android and Samsung

Re:Why Samsung?

[barlevg]

If they were really concerned about spying, shouldn't they go with a Nexus that runs Cyanogenmod?

FTFY. Cyanogenmod, IIRC, has no proprietary or closed-source components.

Re:Zero info in article

[Anonymous Coward]

Except they have to take now Google and Samsung's word for it.

Re:Someone will make money

[Stan92057]

But..why should we trust them? we already know if its made by an American company the US government will force them to make a hole....or... collect the data for the Government? Just saying... And lets say an Mexico software company made the software what guarantees the Mexican government didn't force the company to collect data, for the Mexican Government??

Re:Zero info in article

[Anonymous Coward]

So.. Why would you trust Samsung over Apple? Samsung is a Koren Chaebol, the largest of 5 companies that contol 90% of the SK economy. They pretty much own the SK Govt. Samsung also has a history of gaping security holes.. Baked right in to their custom ARM cpus. (Ask the cyanogen devs what they think of Samsung's SoCs.. But put in earplugs first.)

This has nothing to do with security and everything to do with Putin's extremely aggressive propaganda. This non-story and the only reason you see it is because it's being pushed by their state media and western media outlets.

Re:Globalization

[Vlad_the_Inhaler]

Russia is upset about the NSA and the US + EU's reaction to them taking over the Crimea.
China is upset about the NSA and is backing Russia over Crimea.
Android is open source.
Both countries have the resources to go through Android with a fine toothed comb. This looks pretty much like the best short-term option they had - lets see if someone now buys up Symbian, it comes from a Finnish company and could be a good starting point.