It was announced by The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) on August 12th that it has awarded a $1.7 million mobile security research contract to Northrop Grumman. Northrop Grumman will be working on research in device instrumentation.
“A cyberattack on a mobile device can be just as severe as an attack on an organization’s computer network. S&T is developing innovative R&D solutions to help secure mobile devices against current and emerging threats,” said Under Secretary for Science and Technology, Dr. Reginald Brothers.
Northrop Grumman will be charged with the task of creating a system that will track user behavior while operating in the background and simultaneously compare recent user behaviors against a ‘machine-learning-enhanced’ user profile. This enhanced function created by Northrop Grumman will help to secure devices by prompting users for an authentication code when an anomaly is detected; if they are unable to authenticate the device will either lock or in extreme cases the devices will be wiped automatically.
Cyber Security Division MDS Program Manager, Vincent Sritapan, said, “The popularity of mobility and lack of security in mobile devices have made mobile devices an appealing target for cyberattacks. The MDS project will research and develop secure mobile technologies that use device sensors to keep sensitive information safe for users and organizations using mobile devices.”
