The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has awarded $8.6 million for five mobile application security project.
DHS S&T award receipts are:
- Apcerto: Received $1.6 million to research and develop solutions designed to review mobile apps based on predefined standards, along with a framework for orchestrating the mobile app security process.
- Lookout: Awarded $1.8 million to add new app-threat, -risk and -vulnerability detection and protection capabilities to its cloud-based mobile endpoint security platform, as well as bolster this platform's existing capabilities.
- Qualcomm Technologies: Earned $1.8 million to explore ways to anchor mobile app security to a device's hardware.
- Red Hat: Provided $1.9 million to study ways to integrate security throughout the entire mobile app development lifecycle; this total was jointly awarded to Red Hat and Kyptowire.
- United Technologies Research Center: Awarded nearly $1.5 million to develop and implement Continuous Monitoring of Behavior from evolving mobile Application Threats (COMBAT), a mobile app security system that will be run on a hybrid mobile device-cloud environment.
The aforementioned Mobile Application Security (MAS) projects help ensure that mobile apps are secure, regardless of whether these apps are developed by enterprises or acquired via third-party app markets, Program Manager Vincent Sritapan said.
In addition, DHS S&T in July unveiled 10 unclassified cybersecurity technologies at the Black Hat 2017 cybersecurity conference. Among these technologies, seven were underwritten by DHS S&T.
What Does the Future Hold for the Global Mobile App Security Market?
Together, the rising adoption of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and internet adoption and usage will drive the global mobile application security market's growth, according to market research firm MarketsandMarkets.
The global mobile app security market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.7 percent between 2015 and 2020, MarketsandMarkets said in a prepared statement. Also, this sector could be worth $2.5 billion by 2020.
Furthermore, many organizations are concerned about the security risks of mobile apps, which is reflected in recent data from information security research firm Ponemon Institute.
The Ponemon "2017 State of Mobile & Internet of Things (IoT) Application Security Study" of 593 IT and app security professionals revealed 79 percent of respondents said they believe the use of mobile apps increased their security risk significantly or very significantly. Moreover, 53 percent of respondents said they are concerned about data breaches via mobile apps, the study showed.
