We’ve been hearing about military plans to use Android for quite some time now. The latest story to fit this picture comes from Invincea, which scored a $21.4 million contract from DARPA to make Android more secure. The company that presents itself as an “innovator in advanced malware threat detection, network breach prevention, and pre-breach forensic intelligence” will work on a project called “Mobile Armour,” which focuses specifically on driving security innovation within the Android OS for government use. Invincea expects this development will be a forerunner of innovation to be brought to the commercial and consumer sectors as well.
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 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.