DHS Features IAI’s Cybersecurity Tool for Zero-Day Attacks

The Department of Homeland Security is touting a cybersecurity tool called Trusted Mobile System, designed to protect devices and software applications against most cyberattacks.

Developed in partnership with Intelligent Automation Inc., TrustedMS prevents attackers from exploiting vulnerabilities in apps and driver updates that have not yet been discovered. TrustMS serves as a layer of protection until patches can be issued for them. 

“TrustMS is a groundbreaking technology that will help to greatly enhance the security of the most touched parts of the mobile ecosystem—devices and apps—as well as embedded systems," said Vincent Sritapan, the mobile security research and development program manager of DHS Science and Technology Directorate. 

According to Sritapan, TrustMS protects mobile and embedded devices against zero-day attacks and significantly strengthens the mobile ecosystem. 

IAI created TrustMS by first investigating how most attacks gain control of a system and explored how to detect and prevent them.

The IAI team learned that cyberattacks succeed by forcing software to execute code they were never meant to, by executing code in the wrong order or by accessing unnecessary data. 

TrustMS was designed to monitor software execution and detect manipulation while the code is executing, effectively protecting a device against most cyberattacks, DHS said. 

The technology was successfully piloted on SECO InHand's Hydra-Q6 Tablet and is now available for licensing. SECO Inhand designs embedded systems and custom portable electronics for the military, medical and industrial markets.

“IAI’s collaboration with S&T and SECO InHand has resulted in the successful creation of new, deployable cyber technologies for handheld and embedded platforms. We are looking forward to continued partnerships with SECO InHand and S&T to deploy TrustMS on new technologies across the country,” said IAI President and CEO Vikram Manikonda.

DHS said TrustMS can be used in a multitude of sectors to protect critical infrastructure and secure operations. Its applications include the security of power and gas utilities; national defense entities systems; and state, local, tribal and territorial government agencies.