DARPA Awards Invincea $21.4 Million Contract To Create Secure Android Smartphones And Tablets For U.S. Army

PRESS RELEASE

FAIRFAX, VA – June 25, 2012 – Invincea, Inc., an innovator in advanced malware threat detection, network breach prevention, and pre-breach forensic intelligence, today announced the award of a multi-year, $21.4 million contract from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) for the development of secure smartphone and tablet mobile platforms for military use. Dubbed “Mobile Armour,” the project focuses specifically on driving security innovation within the Android operating system for government use. Invincea expects this development will be a forerunner of innovation to be brought to the commercial and consumer sectors as well.

Through its Invincea Labs subsidiary, the company has pioneered the development of a secure Android-based operating system for tactical mobile devices used by soldiers in forward-deployed operations in enemy terrain. Initial versions of the secure Android phone and tablets, meeting stringent military security specifications for “outside the wire” tactical use, are already being field tested by thousands of U.S. Army personnel in Afghanistan. Based on this early success, DARPA and the U.S. Army are expanding the scope of the Mobile Armour project to include significant new security enhancements to the Android platform through this award. Surging demand in the Federal Government for secure mobility is driving follow-on applications of the secure Android build for Invincea. The company is engaged with a number of federal civilian and defense agencies for the development and deployment of secure Android phones for both office and field applications.

“As mobile devices become a new fertile ground for adversaries, chief information security officers (CISOs) are increasingly placing mobile security on their strategic roadmaps. At the same time, they need to continue addressing serious problems they face today – such as an increase in spear phishing of their employees. Security vendors like Invincea that innovate to address today’s problems and drive research into future requirements such as mobile are strongly positioned to be long-term partners to government and commercial organizations,” said Wendy Nather, Research Director of the Enterprise Security Practice at The 451 Group.

“The investment by DARPA and the U.S. Army in the Mobile Armour project demonstrates the critical need for secure mobility. As government departments and agencies across the civilian and defense sectors shift their focus towards the use of mobile applications for executing their missions, they must be able to trust that these platforms are secure,” said Anup Ghosh, Founder and CEO at Invincea. “The selection of Invincea Labs by DARPA demonstrates Invincea’s innovation and leadership in the secure mobility space. The company will continue to lead the federal sector to secure mobile solutions. Invincea looks forward to carrying these innovations to the commercial sector as it has with its breach prevention platform for the enterprise.”

About Invincea, Inc. and Invincea Labs Invincea is the premier innovator in advanced malware threat detection, network breach prevention, and pre-breach forensic intelligence. Invincea is the only solution on the market that provides enterprise networks with coverage against the largest attack surface for cyber-breach attacks aimed at end-users in the form of spear phishing, drive-by download exploits, poisoned search results and user-initiated infections.

The company’s solutions include a desktop security software suite and threat intelligence appliance. The solutions offer a unique ability to protect networks against all types of threats directed at end-users, including zero-days, by seamlessly moving applications that render untrusted content into controlled, secure virtual environments that automatically detect and terminate threats in real time. Invincea’s platform seamlessly moves the browser, PDF reader, Microsoft Office suite, .zip, and .exe file types from the native operating system into secure virtualized environments without altering the user experience. The company, which was founded by Dr. Anup Ghosh to address the rapidly increasing security threat from nation states, cyber-crime, and rogue actors, has commercialized technology originally built under DARPA funding. The company is venture capital-backed and based in Fairfax, VA.

Invincea Labs is a wholly owned subsidiary of Invincea, Inc. Invincea Labs exists to develop new age cyber security technologies by conducting research and advanced prototyping into leap ahead approaches with market potential. Invincea Labs accomplishes this mission through its own cyber security expertise and by leveraging its relationships with university research partners and government research. For more information, visit http://www.invincea.com