DARPA Selects Xint to Analyze Security of Military Messaging Apps
Summary
DARPA selected Xint to analyze source code and compiled binaries used in Department of War messaging apps, identify and prioritize vulnerabilities, and generate patches. Xint says its technology can also serve commercial customers.
Key points
- Xint was selected after placing among three winners in DARPA’s two-year, $29.5 million AI Cyber Challenge.
- The work will examine internally developed and open-source messaging apps, as well as compiled binaries and their software supply chains.
- Xint says its system can inspect app code and underlying components, investigate vulnerabilities, prioritize them by attacker accessibility, and generate patches.
- The initiative aims to protect Department of War communications from eavesdropping, including by foreign adversaries.
- Xint offers a SaaS code-scanning service to commercial customers; an option to run the service entirely in a customer’s data center remains in development.
Article Details
- Event Type
- DARPA selected Xint to research the use of AI for security analysis of messaging applications used by the Department of War.
- Impact
- Xint’s technology is intended to analyze application source code and compiled binaries, identify and prioritize vulnerabilities, and generate patches. The work aims to help secure Department of War communications against eavesdropping and data exposure; the article reports no specific breach or confirmed vulnerability.
People
Vendors
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Androidcode involved in the apps concerned, reverse engineering binaries as necessary. So, for messaging from Android, Xint would look at the app itself, the Linux kernel, and any other components of the Android ecosystemLinux kernelbinaries as necessary. So, for messaging from Android, Xint would look at the app itself, the Linux kernel, and any other components of the Android ecosystem that sit between the app and the kernel. SignalIt is now tasked with analyzing source code, whether internally developed by messaging apps such as Signal or open source projects.