SBIR-STTR Award

PRXY to Enhance Space Enterprise Cyber and Supply Chain Security
Award last edited on: 7/22/2023

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
DOD : AF
Total Award Amount
$798,769
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
AF203-CSO1
Principal Investigator
Ari Thai

Company Information

Tectonic Labs LLC

9105 Owens Drive Building B Suite 101
Manassas, VA 20111
   (202) 656-1158
   N/A
   www.tectoniclabs.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 10
County: Prince Willim

Phase I

Contract Number: FA8649-21-P-0497
Start Date: 2/5/2021    Completed: 5/6/2021
Phase I year
2021
Phase I Amount
$49,941
Tectonic Labs is pleased to offer a Prxy, our modifiable Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS), Technology Readiness Level (TRL)-8 technology, to help the US Air Force address several critical security challenges in its Internet of Things applications. Prxy is novel, stackable approach to improving the security of Internet of Things devices and applications. By using Prxy to create a series of device and software authentication tokens, customers are able to detect whether hardware or software has been modified, cryptographically hide key program information, and protect device certificate generation processes in a manner that immediately reveals tampering. In a general sense, Prxy takes any critical software logic and transforms it based upon dynamic properties of the hardware into a large hash-like integer called a “Prxy Hash.” Essentially, the complexity of the hardware has randomized the logic. The logic transformed into the Prxy Hash, in this case the authentication token logic, can only be interpreted and executed by operating on components matching the exact performance and configuration of the initial hardware during transformation. Any interference caused by attempts at tampering or reverse engineering will lead to a change in hardware state and an incorrect expression of the Prxy Hash, hiding the protected logic. The Prxy application can be tied a single device, a specific lot of devices ,or a whole family of devices. The goal of the Phase.1 research will be to meet (virtually and in person when possible) with a range of Air Force stakeholders with missions impacted by IoT security. The potential program offices and missions include: · The Advanced Battle Management System at Andrews Air Force Base in support of the Internet of Things for the military Combatant Commanders · The 67th Cyberspace Wing regarding their missions conduct network operations, defense, attack and exploitation · 688th Cyberspace Wing in support of information operations missions sets · 363rd ISR Wing in support unmanned aerial platforms · 42nd Air Base at Maxwell Air Force Base in support of Smart Base Initiatives · The Joint Cyber Training Lab at Louisiana State University Meeting with stakeholders will seek to accomplish several goals: · Understand current approaches to IoT security for Air Force assets · Identify persistent challenges within current approaches · Provide an overview of the Prxy technology · Demonstrate Prxy protecting several related IoT devices · Determine potential insertion points with the program · Identify potential Phase II research scope · Identify potential Phase II research Tectonic Labs will document results of outreach to generate a prioritized set of recommendations to focus the Phase II Research, report on the commercialization potential of key research focal points and identify initial research paths.

Phase II

Contract Number: FA8649-21-P-1477
Start Date: 8/5/2021    Completed: 11/4/2022
Phase II year
2021
Phase II Amount
$748,828
Identification of the Research Problem – LEO Satellite Cyber and Supply Chain Risks According to an April 2021 Spacenews.com interview with Derek Tournear, the Director of the Space Development Agency, cyber and supply chain threats are the two most conce