Boeing, NSA phones hint build-your-own may be only way to make Android secure

April 13, 2012, 3:38 PM — Boeing execs have quietly announced they intend to get into the smartphone business later this year by building a civilian version of an encrypted, secure version of a phone running Android that it developed in accordance with contract for the U.S. government.

Boeing's secure smartphone, the first of which will be aimed at high-end business and government users, will be more expensive than even smartphones from Apple and RIM that sell at a high premium, however not near as much as the $15,000 to $20,000 cost of specialized phones with proprietary operating systems and hardware, according to Brian Palma, Boeing VP of secure infrastructure, in an interview with National Defense Magazine.

The Boeing phone

"The Boeing phone," as the prototypes are being called, will perform like and be as easy to use as ordinary smartphones, however will encrypt data as things are broadcast and as things are stored on the phone, among other additions to bolster security.

Boeing is working with commercial partners in developing the phone, however won't name them and won't say whether the resulting product will carry its brand or a different one.

The end result is likely to look a lot like the prototype phones built by the National Security Agency pursuant to this agreement the code-name "Fishbowl," news of which came out last month.

The phone allows NSA employees to make VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls that route through secure NSA servers in other words than the Internet, according to a briefing NSA technical director Margaret Salter gave at the RSA security conference

The phones were built with off-the-shelf elements

The phones were built with off-the-shelf elements and software to keep them affordable and to create a prototype secure smartphone commercial manufacturers could use as a reference for their own versions, Salter said.

The same setup, with secure, private VoIP servers would require providers to put up their own servers, nevertheless they wouldn't have to pay for reference designs or technical data from NSA.

The Fishbowl p[hones are part of a larger effort

The Fishbowl p[hones are part of a larger effort by NSA to build a variety of mobile-computing devices for NSA employees and their sources of information.

Any actual security built into Android would be a huge benefit – not to mention a huge surprise– to Android users. It's just not clear how serious Boeing is about driving down the cost of its phone and whether secure-Android tech will bleed out to actual consumer versions, or rather than the ProSumer version Boeing appears to be developing.

They as well avoided saying whether the phone would be secure enough that passengers could use them on Boeing airplanes during on the tarmac waiting for takeoff without being kicked off the plane like Alec Baldwin absorbed in a game of Words with Friends.

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