DOD ramps up mobile security -- GCN

To better protect mobile devices that warfighters use, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is readying a mobile threat application that analyzes for problems on Defense Department-issued devices and shares findings in the cloud.

“DOD must protect mobile devices from attacks such as phishing, malicious risky apps, operating system exploitation and network attacks,” Rick Simon, cyber portfolio program manager at DIU, wrote in an email response to GCN’s questions. “Previous methods aimed at addressing this gap in security had been minimally successful.”

The department recognizes that warfighters’ mobile endpoints face the same threats consumers’ devices do, but the loss of confidential information and credentials at DOD could lead to a national security issue, Simon said.

DIU selected Zimperium’s mobile endpoint protection platform to help shore up DOD’s unclassified mobile offerings. It will monitor users of the Defense Information Systems Agency’s DOD Mobility Unclassified Capability (DMUC) when they access applications and data on Apple iOS and Android endpoints while on the move.