The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has submitted a report to Congress mandated by the Cybersecurity Act of 2015. The report details current and emerging threats to the Federal government’s use of mobile devices and recommends security improvements to the mobile device ecosystem. The Study on Mobile Device Security relied on significant input from mobile industry vendors, carriers, service providers and academic researchers. The DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) led the study in coordination with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and its National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence alongside the Department of Defense and General Services Administration. 

The study found that the threats to the Federal government’s use of mobile devices—smartphones and tablet computers running mobile operating systems--exist across all elements of the mobile ecosystem. These threats require a security approach that differs substantially from the protections developed for desktop workstations largely because mobile devices are exposed to a distinct set of threats, frequently operate outside of enterprise protections and have evolved independently of desktop architectures