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STS & Privoro – Zero Trust & Signature Management

TechNet Augusta

 A conversation with Steve Trevino and Michael Campbell heading into TechNet Augusta 2024

Steve Trevino

Steve Trevino

Director Innovation & C5ISR

SOFtact Solutions (STS)

Michael Campbell

Michael Campbell

General Manager

Privoro Government Solutions

The Privoro team has shared a great deal of innovation over the past 16 months. What updates does Privoro plan to showcase at TechNet Augusta?

Michael Campbell

Last year Privoro introduced SafeCase CRBN X (Carbon X) in strategic partnership with Samsung.  The first ever true hardware-based, Zero Trust, and Comply-to-Connect solution for mobile devices ever announced.  We could ‘camouflage the phone’, making the mobile device disappear, giving the ability to physically turn off the phone’s radios and sensors.

 

Since then, we’ve seen adoption by sensitive organizations who want to use commercial mobile devices in places where smartphones and tablets are banned due to the risk associated with cameras, microphones, and radios – think of this community as being strategic, operating in fixed facilities.  And we’ve seen adoption by down range tactical forces including the special operations community, who are using mobile devices to support tactical missions.

 

What’s new this year? We quickly adjusted our SafeCase and made a smaller, more ruggedized version, SafeCase ONX. SafeCase ONX is being tested in field use trials now by special operations forces and others in its new, smaller, more hardened version.

 

Privoro is driving the risk out of using mobile devices by being the only enterprise solution for mobile capability built on hardware made in the USA. Our ONX solution – now smaller, easier to use, and more rugged – is the only true “Zero Trust” and “Comply-to-Connect” solution with enterprise management and secure cloud, SIEM-integrable management capabilities that gives commanders and operators hardware-level control over their risk.

 

This solution has been certified by the government at the FedRAMP Moderate Baseline for the back-end cloud management systems.  You’ll have this hardened end user solution that can physically make a mobile device disappear, and you’ll have enterprise Comply-to-Connect and Zero Trust capabilities to use in different missions, different scenarios, change in mission, and just overall observation of the total deployed user base of this solution, you can have the complete enterprise management capability, certified for use by a classified government organization, that can be leveraged by special operations forces.

Steve Trevino

This time last year, the conflict in Ukraine was in its infancy.  I believe we had a good understanding of the baseline requirements and needs of the force early on; however, we didn’t have a firm grasp on how a secure mobile solution would be integrated and used in the months and years to come.  The technological advancements that Michael is referring to validate Privoro’s ability to match strategic solutions to ongoing and especially future conflicts. Privoro has done extremely well in receiving critical feedback and executing against projected expectations by providing capabilities that are now proving valuable to those in multiple operating environments.  The ever-changing landscape in contested areas of conflict has exposed a greater need for secured mobile solutions and the team at Privoro has been one step ahead in providing these critical capabilities and driving the risk out of mobile device use.

 

I believe Privoro’s vision and strategic intuition, coupled with their technical approach, exhibits the forward thinking required to facilitate current and future solutions to solve problems that our forces are facing now and will face down the road.  Well-planned and rapidly executed technical advancements will be paramount in enhancing security and lethality of the force in the future.

Why are these advances you are introducing relevant? Is this needed?

Michael Campbell

Great point Steve and thank you.  Why are these advances we are introducing relevant? Is this needed?  I agree since last year, there’s been more public awareness in two major areas, use and risk.

 

First is that mobile end user devices, tablets and phones, are being used by combat forces for command and control, intelligence, logistics, et cetera.  It’s no longer the era of the physically wired system.  It’s the mobile, fast, wireless system that’s become the commercial platform of choice by combat forces forward.

 

But there’s a consequence to that, those devices are trackable and can be exploited.  Smartphones and tablets are devices with radios, powerful radios, that cannot be turned off.  Worse, they are designed to make you think they are turned off.  Therein lies an exploitable risk.

 

The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged 89 Russian soldiers were successfully targeted in an artillery strike and that their location was confirmed because of cell phone transmissions.  The phones’ radios were transmitting and able to be geolocated, and an artillery strike was executed.

 

All militaries around the world, including US forces, are also facing this challenge and whether people wanted to acknowledge it a year ago or not, it is being acknowledged now.  US Forces in training exercises have been shown to be trackable, not just by the smart phones they carry for personal use, but also by the smartphones carried for mission purposes and in mission scenarios.  Again, those smartphones have radios.

 

Army Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor held up a cell phone and saidthis is going to be the thing that gets U.S. Soldiers killed in the next war.

 

Conventional and special operations forces leverage smartphones for missions today, and without SafeCase ONX and our Zero Trust approach, they are vulnerable to being tracked.  

Steve Trevino

Thanks Michael and I couldn’t agree more.  Privoro has done an outstanding job staying ahead of the requirements and providing a solution that also lends to greater security endeavors across the DOD.  The Zero Trust efforts have been a significant lift, and we believe ONX, and other capabilities within the Privoro portfolio, will streamline execution and provide a true enterprise solution to the Zero Trust and mobility environments with the ability to securely monitor, manage and oversee devices across the network.

 

Privoro’s solution, again not only ahead of its time and meeting the requirements of today, provides a true enterprise solution that enables device management and security across the enterprise and battlefield.

Michael Campbell

The Zero Trust and Comply-to-Connect Enterprise fleet management aspects of the solution are a critical component to offer commanders and the end users on the ground flexibility.  We are not pushing to take your smartphone away.  We are empowering you to use it by driving out the risk.

 

The mobile device, be it a smartphone or tablet, is going to continue to be the technological tool of choice.  We must prepare for this by providing both our senior leaders and the operators on the ground the ability to turn off, turn on, and set up capability that is monitored and trusted, with hardware made in the United States, hardened and approved for trusted cloud-based use.

 

We are committed to continuing to adapt quickly to the field by introducing a tactical, integrable, modular version of the ONX solution.  This version can directly interface with tactical systems –chest mounted, arm mounted, leg mounted, vehicle mounted mobile end user device platforms– that are used by combat special operations and conventional military forces today.

 

Zero Trust architecture, alignment with Comply-to-Connect, and physical hardware control made in the USA are core parts of the total solution and that solution is ready to go. And you know what’s best about all of this? 

It’s not a prototype. It’s ready for field use today.

Are there other security risks with mobile device use beyond the technology?

Michael Campbell

Absolutely.  Signature Management is a big factor in overall risk, and in that, there are two perspectives we solved for.

 

The first is the visual (in real life) footprint of the user, the experiential look and feel, the ease of use, size, and form factor. We are going from clumsy, clunky, large, bulky, and frustrating to small, looking like everyone else around you, a mobile device in your pocket.  You need ease of use without standing out or calling attention to yourself visually.

 

The second is digital footprint, the device itself being obfuscated or camouflaged.  When a mobile device is moving from one physical location to another, let’s say from the US to another country, there is no hiding that you’ve gone from one location to another with a device that’s full of radios.  Radios can and will be detected, and you can and will be flagged.

 

We are addressing this with a focus on smaller, easier, and frictionless.  What we are offering is to make it even more seamless, with just a phone and some enhancements masquerading as a phone case or module that clips on. 

 

It is as easy as pushing a button.  Physically on, off.  Zero trust in its simplest form.  A true mobile solution that you can slide into your back pocket, purse, or bag, and use without standing out.

 

Privoro took a zero-trust approach to all mobile devices, focusing on risk mitigation and elimination without attempting to build a custom smartphone or tablet.  A government custom smartphone has never worked at scale.  Giving users, especially government users, the ability to leverage the enormous commercial investment in mobile was a foundational outcome of our approach.

Steve Trevino

Great run-down Michael, and I agree that operational appearance is just as important as the technical solution.  It’s not often we find a capability that addresses or encompasses the full spectrum of end user requirements.  Privoro’s diligence and forward thinking produced a technical breakthrough that streamlines secure mobility efforts, while ensuring ease-of-use and physical signature reduction.

 

The ability to hide in plain sight and conduct various sensitive mission sets more effectively is critical as we continue to operate in contested environments, at all levels, addressing the needs of users from tactical to strategic.

Now we have this option of a phone in your hand. Visually blending in with society at large all over the globe. Is that one device all you need to perform the same work that previously required laptops, pucks, dongles, wires, extra batteries, and radios?

Michael Campbell

Great question and that leads to digital footprint advances.  We solved for the visual, but now what about the digital?

Your primary device is a phone with a case (that looks like any common commercial case) with physical controls to drive out the risk, and then a second device which is your path out.  The specifics of that second device are flexible – it could be a locally purchased phone, a personal phone, a hot spot, local Wi-Fi, or a fully trusted radio/ satellite/ custom system.  And it doesn’t have to be physically connected.  You could have that second device in a bag or in your pocket and you’ve got your work device (phone or tablet) in the Privoro case in your hand, and you are hiding in plain sight.  This is a phone or a tablet with no wires, that is simple and will be safe to use because you’ve got physical control.

 

The radios are physically controlled, the camera and microphones are physically controlled, and you’re obfuscating your radio transmission.  You’re pathed out by that second device, which is wirelessly connected.   You’re connected to the internet, to the services and information you need, but you’re hidden.  Driving the risk out of using mobile devices, physically.

Steve Trevino

Many thanks to Michael and the entire Privoro team.  They developed solutions to longstanding problems with a focus on the user experience and we look forward to solving many more problems with this premier organization. 

 

TechNet Augusta is right around the corner, and we are ready to demonstrate this incredible capability.

Schedule a meeting with our team during TechNet Augusta 2024

TechNet Augusta 2024