Symantec participates in and supports the Department of Defense (DoD) Coalition of Apple Engineers (CAE). The DoD CAE is an initiative to bring together engineers throughout the Defense and Federal Government arena who are tasked with implementing one or more of the various Apple technologies. Specifically, the CAE was developed to share different approaches in implementing iOS and Mac OS X devices. Their monthly meeting keeps members up to date on the current iOS/OS X "STIG" (Security Technical Implementation Guide) and "SHB" (Secure Host Baseline) approval status, NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) releases, and much more.
Advanced cyber research by Symantec demonstrates that global threats targeting Apple products have steadily grown over the past two years. Symantec's research shows that jailbroken devices tend to be the focus of most of these threats. Fortunately for DoD and related Federal agencies, the military and Federal workforce are disciplined and well trained in cyber defenses and therefore don't deliberately jailbreak their Apple devices. However, according to Dick O'Brien of Symantec, "While the total number of threats targeting Apple devices remains quite low compared to
Windows in the desktop space and Android in the mobile sector, Apple users cannot be complacent. Should Apple platforms continue to increase in popularity, the number of cybersecurity threats facing Apple users will likely grow in parallel." O'Brien authored a Symantec whitepaper entitled"Security Response: The Apple Threat Landscape," which can be found on-line at: www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/media/security_response/whitepapers/apple-threat-landscape.pdf
Eligible participants in the DoD CAE include Government Managers and/or Engineers and Contract Managers and/or Engineers who are sponsored by their respective Government agencies. Third party vendors are also welcome. Take a look at their website Caution-dodcae.osd.mil. If you have questions, please contact the Coalition Support Desk at osd.dodcae@mail.mil.