Mobile Device Management? There Will Be an App Store for That

Following the lead set by NASA, the Department of Veterans Affairs and several other federal agencies, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has posted a solicitation for an enterprisewide Mobile Device Management system and Mobile Application Store (MDM-MAS). As many as 260,000 devices could reach authorized security resources and data initially through the DISA app store, which could eventually expand to support the needs of the entire Defense Department. The app store solicitation calls for a system to ensure adherence to all security requirements for devices operating on the DISA network and, if needed, allow security officials to remotely wipe devices that are either lost or otherwise compromised by hackers. The MDM-MAS also could be used to push authorized applications to employees’ smartphones and tablets. DISA expects to keep the cost of the proposed app store manageable by using commercially available hardware and software.