The Defense Information Systems Agency has certified the first secure mobile device running on the Android operating system.

The Dell Streak 5 smart phone/small tablet computer is the first handheld device using the Android 2.2 operating system to be certified for use in the Defense Department’s secure but unclassified communications, said John Marinho, director of Dell enterprise mobility solutions.

Breaking Defense readers will remember that the Android system has been found to be much more vulnerable to malware than Apple products because, in part, apps for Androids are not as closely regulated as are Apple’s.