The United States Department of Defense (DOD) will use a blockchain platform to protect confidential research and development (R&D) data. The agency awarded a $ 200,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract to SIMBA Chain, the firm that will design its own blockchain to test the system.
The DOD represents almost 40% of all federal R&D allocations, and manages and monitors approximately four and a half million documents for four thousand users, through the Defense Technical Information Center. With the new system, the North American entity will seek to improve integration, security, auditing and controlled access to this data.
The project called “Authenticity Registry for Access to Auditable Interlocking Military Data” (ALAMEDA) will start operating on June 1, 2020, until September 30. If Phase I concludes successfully, the SIMBA Chain company will receive a $ 1 million SBIR contract to expand the business strategy.
ALAMEDA will help the Department of Defense to send its scientific documents and data safely to whoever it wishes. The agency may share confidential information with an additional layer of control to add specific users and permissions to the documents they share.
Thanks to DLT technology, SIMBA closes the gap between users and providers and relegates the scheme to third parties
“DOD, defense contractors, and enterprise-level companies have benefited from mobile devices and how easy it has been to access and change the date. However, the improved flow of information represents a significant security risk. Hence the need for sophisticated blockchain solutions that authenticate and document users, eliminate bad third-party actors, and otherwise allow secure direct connections between trusted sources, "SIMBA Chain CEO Joel Neidig said in the statement. of the agency's official press, and completed:
"This is absolutely essential to the Department of Defense, which constantly manages the core data for the security of the nation and the global leadership in science and technology."
It is not the first time that the US Department of Defense. The US ventures into blockchain technology. In August 2019, its Advanced Research Projects Agency incorporated it to modernize and perfect its digital platform.