Red Hat, Kryptowire to advance mobile application lifecycle security for US DHS

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has contracted Red Hat and Kryptowire to advance mobile application lifecycle security.

Red Hat is a provider of open-source solutions and Kryptowire provides a military-grade mobile application security testing platform used by top-security Federal agencies.

The award follows after a study revealed the ‘distinct set of threats’ to the Federal government’s mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers running mobile operating systems.

The companies will work under the DHS S&T’s Assured Mobile Application Lifecycle using Red Hat Enterprise project.

Red Hat Public Sector senior vice-president and general manager Paul Smith said: “Mobile devices—including smartphones and tablets—are used across government agencies, but these devices and the mobile apps that run on them require a unique approach to security.

“This DHS S&T Mobile Application Security project aims to help address this security gap with an approach to mobile app security that can serve as a best practice across US government agencies.

“We are excited to collaborate with Kryptowire to help the US government provide automated enforcement of government security standards in mobile apps and, through this automated approach, help minimise human error during application releases.”

Red Hat and Kryptowire will develop a framework for automation of security and privacy compliance in the mobile application lifecycle.

The companies will partner on a few development initiatives such as a Red Hat Mobile Application Platform extension that will use Kryptowire’s mobile application testing and security updates and notifications to address new security or privacy vulnerabilities.

Additionally, the companies will seek to optimise Kryptowire's mobile application certification platform for Red Hat Mobile Application Platform’s processes.