Northrop wins research contract from US DHS for mobile security applications

Northrop Grumman has won a contract from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) to develop biometric solutions to enhance mobile security.

The solution has been developed to virtually eliminate the need for a password while ensuring the mobile security for the users.

Under the terms of a $1.7m Mobile Technology Security (MTS) research and development (R&D) award, Northrop Grumman will combine advanced behavioural sensing and modelling techniques that were developed as a part of its university research projects on threat behaviour modelling.

The project was originally developed through its partner Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) cyber security institute, CyLab, along with another project on mobile challenge response techniques that the company sponsored at Iowa State University to authenticate user identity.

The behavioural characteristics gathered by sensors on a device will authenticate user identity instead of a password or pin.

The device simply generates a curve on the display to authenticate the user, which must then be traced on the touch screen.

As the user swipes across the screen, unique pressure points are calibrated that cannot be replicated across users, thus ensuring another level of security and authenticity.

If a user is not able to authenticate, the device will lock or, in extreme situations, be wiped out automatically.

Northrop Grumman Information Systems vice-president and general manager Shawn Purvis said: "As the government moves to a more mobile business model, this new technology mitigates risk so users can take advantage of the newest mobile applications in a trusted state.

"From the warfighter to the civil servant, we are integrating solutions to optimise ease and performance while layering our defence-in-depth approach to protect everything from the perimeter to the data."

Purvis added: "This project is an example of how we are working with our academic research partners to integrate next-generation technologies in an innovative way to address a national security imperative."