Arkham Technology Limited — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: HR001120S0019-21

Description

Establishing trust is broken in today’s Internet of Things (IoT).  Security is often optional and not scalable, leading to devices being unmanaged and forgotten.  Furthermore, IoT security, when enabled, almost entirely uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) cryptologic that is non-U.S. sourced and proprietary.  There is also currently no National Security Agency (NSA) certified high-assurance TLS cryptologic for IoT devices in critical Department of Defense (DoD) applications.  This is quickly becoming a critical issue since these devices must integrate with the Key Management Infrastructure (KMI) for effective Zero-Trust engagement between Warfighters and the classified cloud services that they will depend on in future multi-domain operations.  These Zero-Trust concepts and level of assurance are also being called for by private industry.  Our proposed Cryptography for Hyper-scale Architectures in a Robust Internet of Things (CHARIOT) uniquely addresses this problem with our mature and innovative technology. Arkham Technology’s KMI/IoT Processor (KIP) fully implements DARPA’s Open, Programmable, and Secure 5G (OPS-5G) program use-case for cost-effective, Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) conscious, cryptography with scalable security protocols.  The KIP is an innovative high-assurance TLS crypto-processor that can be immediately applied to the CHARIOT application.  It provides hyper-scalable KMI-aware security protocols, including Over-the-Network Keying (OTNK), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), and Message Queueing Telemetry Transport (MQTT). During Phase II, we will apply our existing, well-defined hardware to develop a KIP-based CHARIOT prototype, which completely address DARPA’s needs for the Warfighter, as well as advancing the state of the art of hyper-scalable IoT trust for private industry.  We will also provide research into applying hyper-scalable IoT trust within the DoD’s maturing cloud infrastructure, including analysis of CHARIOT within DARPA’s OPS-5G program.  We will also vet our CHARIOT concept with the CM2 program and the service cryptologic organizations, in order to accelerate its transition to operational use in applications requiring higher trust than current commercial IoT cryptologic can provide.