ETNews confirms that "The National Intelligence Service will finalize MDM product security standards within this month and implement them from next month at the earliest.
National Intelligence Service plans to collect opinions on MDM product security standards and announce a final decision within this month.
If there is no disagreement, the MDM product security standards will be implemented from next month. Accordingly, public institutions will be able to use the iPhone as a smartphone for work from next month.
MDM is a solution for managing business smartphones and tablets, enabling software and device settings to be updated, compliance monitoring with institutional policies, and remote device wipe/lock.
For example, administrators can lock the camera app in certain places, such as the president's office. In the meantime, only the security requirements of Android smartphone MDM were established and enforced, and the iPhone could not be used by public institutions. In order to introduce IT devices to national and public institutions, it is necessary to comply with the security requirements established by the National Intelligence Service.
In the security requirements, the NIS stated that MDM for iPhone must also be issued CC certification or security function confirmation and be listed on the list of verified products before it can be introduced by public institutions. Considering this, it is expected that the CC certification profile will be released soon.
Business iPhones must be linked to the 'Apple Business Manager (ABM)' program. ABM is a business iPhone program run by Apple. Public institutions can purchase and register (DEP) smartphones only through ABM and install MDM. Administrators can also prevent users from uninstalling MDM only through ABM.
An official from an MDM company said, “There doesn’t seem to be any difficulty in implementing the MDM security requirements.”
An official from the NIS said, “We are continuously collecting opinions from Apple and MDM developers,” and “we plan to finalize and implement standards as soon as possible.”
As long as there's no opposition against Apple, say from Samsung, Apple iPhones will likely be able to officially enter Korean businesses and institutions as early as next month or at least Q1 2023.