Secure, unhackable messaging and transaction platform for the U.S. Military
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) tasked ITAMCO and The Center for Research Computing at Notre Dame to architect and design a decentralized mobile peer-to-peer, end-to-end, secure messaging application that uses Blockchain technology.
CHALLENGE
The Department of Defense had a critical need for a secure messaging and transaction platform accessible via web browser or standalone native apps. The platform needed to separate the message creation, from the transfer of the message within a secure courier to the reception and decryption of the message.
Project Partners
APPROACH
SIMBA used Fabric (Open Blockchain) due to its novel approach to smart contracts using chaincode services and several other features including membership, consensus, and identity management and flexible distributed ledger implementation. ITAMCO identified several extensions to support secure messaging and smart contracts including the use of mini containers for smart contracts, a data transaction layer to support messaging and their access, and the ability to seamlessly move Fabric onto mobile ad hoc networks through the use of a UDP-based transport mechanism.
By building on ITAMCO’s CryptoChat technology, connecting it to a web app and the Fabric API, ITAMCO provided a platform for delivering secure messaging and other messaging features including: the ability to interface with smart contracts, send files, and even send Docker containers securely across the underlying blockchain infrastructure. The SIMBA mobile phone app and Web dashboard act symbiotically, mirroring and synchronizing content as the user moves seamlessly between them resulting in a flexible and powerful decentralized secure messaging infrastructure to meet the DoD needs.
RESULTS
The messaging platform acts as the transport for a cryptographically sound record of all transactions whether they be MIPRs, contracts, troop movements or intelligence. Troops on the ground in denied communications environments have a way to securely communicate back to HQ. DoD back office executives can rest assured that their logistics system is efficient, timely and safe from hackers.
The benefits are broad and could even be applied to domains such as space. With crowded skies it’s important to maintain situational awareness of all satellites and those concerned with space situational awareness/telemetry or air traffic control could instantly share data between nations using a separate but equivalent ledger implementation thus removing questions as to the authenticity and integrity of the data.
To further build this technology, SIMBA Chain was formed in 2017. SIMBA Chain is now a cloud-based, Smart-Contract-as-a-Service (SCaaS) platform, enabling users across a variety of skill sets to implement dapps (decentralized applications). These apps allow secure, direct connections between users and providers, eliminating third parties. The easy-to-use platform is tailored for users, developers, government, and enterprises to quickly deploy blockchain dapps for their enterprise.
