Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has developed a special, highly secure version of its YunOS mobile operating system to keep local police safe from hackers, the firm has confirmed to Infosecurity.
Media reports emanating from a Ministry of Public Security (MPS) article claimed the ‘PMOS’-based handset has been in development for the past 18 months.
An Alibaba Group spokesperson had the following in a brief statement sent to Infosecurity:
“Alibaba Group, together with Number One Research Institute of China’s Ministry of Public Security, have developed a safe operating system, called PMOS, based on YunOS for use by law enforcement personnel. No additional details are available at this time.”
However, Chinese media reports claimed that the device has two modes: a “personal mode” which features mainstream apps allowing the user to IM contacts, play games and even do some online shopping; and a “secure mode” which will encrypt data and calls and deflect any malware it encounters.
The two modes are apparently completely isolated from each other.
Lu Yu, a researcher at the ministry’s Number One Research Institute, told the People’s Public Security Daily that the device was developed to counter two main threats: from commercial software which could compromise personal information; and from foreign cyber spying.
The new handset was vital to stem potential information loss from the police force given that officers’ regular smartphones were not secure enough to meet MPS requirements, he said.
Crucially, Alibaba’s YunOS and the new PMOS were built without any foreign help, meaning they satisfy Beijing’s strict security requirements for government-procured technology.
Alibaba’s YunOS, or Aliyun OS, was launched out of its AliCloud business in 2011 in a bid to make some money from the vast domestic smartphone market in China – the idea being to drive more users to its e-commerce and payment services via their handsets.
However, Google’s Andy Rubin argued at the time that the OS made use of “the Android runtime, framework and tools,” but was not compatible with the Google platform.
The US giant subsequently banned any Open Handset Alliance members from signing up with Alibaba, and the Chinese firm has struggled to find any major hardware partners for its OS since.