Provider of automated IoT security will develop solutions to protect the Air Force’s 5G-enabled devices from vulnerabilities
Phosphorus Cybersecurity, which provides full scope security for IoT devices, announced its award of an AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) 20.3 Phase I contract to develop the United States Air Force (USAF) solution for 5G enabled devices. The USAF and Phosphorus will jointly pursue application of Phosphorus’ proprietary technology to secure the Air Force’s Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
The adoption of 5G capabilities at U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) installations will enable rapid adoption of IoT technologies, providing innovative mission-critical capabilities for the warfighter. A scalable security infrastructure to support these initiatives must be built given the exponential increase in network attack surface.
Phosphorus conducts basic, scalable security hygiene to protect IoT devices – inventory, patching, and credential management – automating remediation against IoT’s most critical vulnerabilities. By automating security, Phosphorus enables organizations to scale IoT technologies without adding additional employees to secure them. In the case of the Verkada hack – for Phosphorus customers – this is a solved problem.
“Adapting Phosphorus’s solution to 5G in support of this effort is critical to promoting the zero-trust environment necessary to secure our defense networks,” said Chris Rouland, Phosphorus Founder and CEO. “For years, policy compliance––taking inventory, rotating passwords, and updating firmware––has been second nature for servers and desktops. What’s needed now is a solution for the other third of the network consisting of IoT to prevent the next ‘Verkada’ while enabling the warfighter to adopt next-generation technology.”
Securing IoT devices across the DoD is even more essential given the recent passage of the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act, requiring all federal agencies to conduct identity management, patching, and configuration management of their IoT devices. Phosphorus provides the scalable zero-trust security infrastructure to comply with the new legislation.
AFWERX is a community of Air Force innovators who strive to connect Airmen to solutions across the force: whether that be funding, collaborating with industry, or simply receiving guidance on a project.
