For Immediate Release
DHS Science & Technology Press Office
Contact: John Verrico, (202) 254-2385
Washington, DC—The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has awarded a nearly $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II Other Agencies Technology Solutions (OATS) contract to Mclean, Virginia-based Hypori Federal, Inc. to further develop capabilities in Virtual Mobile Infrastructure (VMI) technology to improve security for government mobility enterprise systems.
The SBIR Other Agencies Technology Solutions contract award follows the Hypori SBIR phase I project “Process Level Security for Mobile System Assurance” which the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded in 2013. Work accomplished during that project was identified by the S&T Cyber Security Division (CSD) as an innovative approach to advancing the federal government’s enterprise mobile capabilities. The goals of the Phase II award call for Hypori to expand its technology to provide enhanced VMI capabilities and conduct deployment testing and piloting.
The Hypori SBIR Phase II award is part of the S&T CSD’s overarching mobile device security program (MDS). The MDS program works cooperatively with researchers in the academic community and private sector to develop secure solutions to the evolving security and privacy threats and challenges impacting mobile devices and applications. Through its work, the MDS program will ensure the department can bridge capability gaps and deploy mobility solutions that effectively, efficiently and securely enable its mission.
“The way in which all federal government agencies—DHS included—conduct business is transforming significantly from total reliance on legacy information technology systems to enterprise-based mobile device computing,” said S&T CSD Director Douglas Maughan. “Hypori’s work will greatly enhance the security and data privacy capabilities of the department’s enterprise mobility infrastructure without hindering innovation or end-user convenience.”
During this new phase of research and development (R&D), Hypori will focus on enhancing the capabilities of its VMI technology by developing new mobile access control functionality for Bluetooth, creating higher-level authentication methodology and building a mobile cloud-based solution with compliance in mind with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) – the federal government’s security assessment program for cloud systems. The company also will conduct testing of these new capabilities and pilot deployments with participants of the federal government and Department of Defense.
“Hypori’s VMI technology has demonstrated it is delivering a significantly enhanced level of security for data stored on critical infrastructure systems that is accessed from mobile devices,” said Vincent Sritapan, CSD MDS program manager. “Its additional work will further strengthen the technology’s existing capabilities while adding a series of new functions that will foster true mobility in government and secure access to critical data without any resident data on the mobile device.”
CSD’s mission is to enhance the security and resilience of the nation’s critical information infrastructure and the Internet by developing and delivering new technologies, tools and techniques to defend, mitigate and secure current and future systems, networks and infrastructure against cyberattacks. To this end, the division conducts and supports technology transitions and leads and coordinates R&D among department customers, government agencies, the private sector, academia and international partners. For more information about CSD, visit www.dhs.gov/cyber-research.