ITAMCO to Develop Blockchain-based Secure Messaging App for US Military

ITAMCO, developer of the advanced privacy app Crypto-Chat, has been awarded a Phase 1 grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a secure, non-hackable messaging and transaction platform for the US military.

In Phase 1 of this project, which runs approximately 10 months, ITAMCO aims to develop the cyber security architecture for a secure messaging application based on the company's existing Crypto-Chat application with added blockchain technology.

The goal of the project is to create a robust, more efficient, and much more secure platform for Department of Defense communications. Uses include the communication of troops on the ground with HQ, or sending information between intelligence officers and the Pentagon.

Blockchain technology, which is the underlying technology of Bitcoin, is a type of distributed ledger or decentralized database that keeps records of digital transactions but is not controlled by a single entity.

By adding this technology to its existing privacy architecture, ITAMCO seeks to be able to create a secure, virtually hack-proof messaging and transaction platform app that separates the creation of a message from the way it is transferred and received.

The app's decentralized messaging backbone aims to allow anyone, anywhere to send a secure message or conduct other transactions that can be traced through a decentralized ledger across multiple channels.

"We are excited to work with DARPA to develop the latest in military-grade encryption software using blockchain technology, and look forward to offering an enterprise solution for secure messaging to industry," said Joel Neidig, director of R&D, ITAMCO.

The Phase 1 grant was made through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. ITAMCO plans to collaborate on Phase 1 of the project with Jarek Nabrzyski, Director of the Center for Research Computing at the University of Notre Dame, and Ian Taylor, Distributed Computing and Data Science Research Professor at the Center.

The team expects to move to Phase 2 of the project, which carries additional grant funding. Phase 2 is a multi-year project in which the company aims to develop, test, and evaluate a working prototype of the app. Phase 3 seeks to involve the full-scale implementation of the platform and the commercialization of the app.