SRI International has entered the final development phase of the US Marine Corps Systems Command’s (MCSC) one-year, $3.8m Trusted Handheld programme to develop and commercialise trusted multiple-personality mobility devices.
The SRI-led team for the development programme comprises Galois, General Dynamics Broadband and LG Electronics.
Currently, the team is integrating domain isolation, encryption, policy, and related security technologies into smartphones for evaluations by carriers, scheduled to take place later this year.
Leveraging fundamental research on isolation technology, separation kernels, and multiple independent levels of security, SRI will develop mobile device architecture that could be used for the commercial purposem while addressing security needs of the US Department of Defense (DoD) and other government departments.
The trusted handheld programme is intended to solve issues that arise when personal mobile devices are used for business purposes.
SRI International engineering and systems group programme director Jeffrey Casper said that the aim was to develop user-friendly mobile devices that ensure personal privacy and enterprise security for the customer.
"An ‘Unclassified Domain’ can access secure records such as business e-mail, medical data, fitness reports, training apps, military avatars, and a ‘Secret Domain’ can access data and applications related to operations," Casper said.
Around 150 proof-of-concept dual-mode smartphones and a second 150 prototype dual-mode smartphones have been delivered by the team in September 2012 and February 2013 respectively.
The US DoD is scheduled to receive 150 advanced prototypes from the team in June for certification and accreditation evaluations.
Image: Security software-equipped mobile device offer enhanced capability against traditional handheld radios. Photo: courtesy of C Todd Lopez.
