WORLD
Darpa starts up-armoring android phones, tablets
Baku, June 28 (AZERTAC). For the Army, using Android smartphones now would be the equivalent of driving a soft-skinned Humvee through the mountains of Afghanistan. That`s why the Pentagon wants to strengthen its soldiers` mobile devices security with a program called “Mobile Armour,” which will protect against cyber-threats like enemy breaches, virus infections, spear-phishing attempts or malicious apps. It`s the new step in the Army`s star-crossed two-decade-long quest to provide its soldiers with better tools to communicate in the battlefield.
Invicea, a cyber-security firm, announced today in a press release that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory have awarded the company a multi-year $21.4 million contract to expand the project dubbed “Mobile Armour,” with the goal of enhancing security on the Army`s smartphones. Invicea will have four years to develop a hardened version of Google`s popular Android operating system to ensure mobile security on the battlefield.
The Virginia-based firm has already been working on an initial version of this technology and says it`s currently testing more than 3,000 Android powered phones and tablets in Afghanistan. According to the company, “based on this early success,” the Pentagon has decided to expand the project`s scope with this new contract award.
“The investment by Darpa and the U.S. Army in the Mobile Armour project demonstrates the critical need for secure mobility,” Anup Ghosh, founder and CEO of Invicea and former Darpa program manager said in a statement. “They must be able to trust that these platforms are secure.”