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Samsung DeX for Enterprise – now includes Armour Mobile

The Samsung DeX platform enables organisations to go ‘mobile-only’ by leveraging the power of Galaxy smartphones and tablets.  This approach could replace the traditional PC for many professionals.

Armour Mobile is a key part of this exciting journey that enables business people to work securely from their chosen location. By connecting peripherals such as screens (including TVs), keyboards, mice and external storage devices, Samsung DeX enabled devices provide a convenient desktop work environment.

Armour Mobile has been optimised to provide a seamless experience on Samsung DeX devices with the Targus USB-C phone dock. Armour Mobile delivers:

  • secure communications with a ‘desktop’ feel via the Samsung smartphone removing the need for every employee to be issued with a corporate laptop
  • sensitive business information held is protected wherever an employee needs to work
  • data is controlled and protected ensuring GDPR compliance

 

Samsung recently ran a series of webinars about its new Enterprise solutions in conjunction with Armour and Targus.

To see the webinar for your region follow these links:

America : https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1257313951803415821

EMEA : https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8544206318609851661

APAC : https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8880377600755887117

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Armour Comms wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2021

Cyber-security firm wins highest industry accolade for Secure Communications technology

London, 29 April 2021: Armour Comms, a supplier of UK Government and NATO approved solutions for secure communications including voice, video, messaging and data, has been awarded a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2021. The award was made for outstanding short term growth in overseas sales over the last three years.

Established in 2015, Armour Comms is one of only 112 organisations nationally to be recognised with an acclaimed Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade this year. Armour Comms technology provides the convenience and usability of consumer-grade apps, with enterprise and government grade security features required by professional users to protect sensitive information and maintain privacy. Armour technology provides a highly secure mobile communications platform where every element of data, including meta-data, can be controlled.

David Holman, Director and co-founder of Armour Comms said; “The whole team at Armour are honoured to have been selected for a Queen’s Award and I know our many customers around the world will share our excitement at this recognition. It is the highlight for us of a busy 12 month period where many organisations moved to remote working and therefore required more robust security for their home workers.

“During the pandemic cyberattacks have increased significantly, generating an awareness that security for mobile workers is incredibly important because it presents such a large attack surface. By combining the usability of consumer-grade apps with enhanced security required for business use our products provide the assurance required when sharing sensitive information of all kinds and maintaining privacy, even in the most challenging of environments.”

Armour Comms supplies the secure communications solutions of choice for governments, banks, defence and law enforcement, financial services, legal and healthcare organisations, as well as family offices, ultra-high nett worth individuals and journalists operating in unfriendly regimes.

This short video explains how the Armour technology works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lufP-IUckhE

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Armour Comms announce certified Secure Communications with Bittium

Total privacy, no reliance on the open-internet, rugged devices with great user experience

London, 14 April 2021: Armour Comms and Bittium have announced the availability of a NATO approved secure communications solution. The new solution which runs on Bittium’s Tough Mobile™ 2 series of ruggedised and secure smartphones ensures voice and video conversations, and the associated files and attachments, stay completely private, no matter how hostile the environment. Aimed at military, defence, law enforcement and government markets worldwide, the Bittium and Armour® Mobile product provides the same user experience as consumer-grade solutions, while keeping data in transit secure at all times via the Bittium Safe Move® Mobile VPN.

The Bittium/Armour Mobile secure comms solution provides out-of-the-box security with everything needed for rapid provisioning of end users contained within the box. Devices are provisioned using a deep-link QR code from Armour and Bittium’s Secure Suite™ device management software. This avoids the ‘weak link’ of relying on SMS messages for authentication codes, and allows the use of Armour Mobile over networks where Voice over IP (VoIP) traffic is blocked or restricted.

Sammy Loitto, Senior Vice President, Sales at Bittium commented; “Security-conscious sectors are an important market for Bittium where we supply our secure and ruggedised smartphones in a variety of options, often without any consumer-grade apps that may compromise security. The Armour Mobile software application is NATO approved, providing the ideal solution for handling data classified at NATO Restricted. Armour Mobile is easy and intuitive to use, further enhancing our joint offering.”

The award-winning Armour Mobile secure comms app is now available on Bittium Tough Mobile 2. When packaged with the Bittium Secure Suite MDM the solution provides:

  • User friendly design that mimics standard Android user experience, intuitive and easy to use
  • Robust, certified end-to-end encryption of all voice, video and message communications
  • Centralised location tracking (command and control)
  • Remote wipe (if a device is compromised)
  • Without Google Mobile services option with app updates from Bittium Secure Suite, no need to connect to the public internet
  • Out-of-the-Box delivery of Armour Mobile activation credentials via Bittium Secure Suite and Bittium Tough Mobile 2 secure channel ensures no interception during provisioning
  • Multi-container solution for easy separation of personal and business data
  • Use of Armour Mobile in networks where Voice over IP traffic is blocked or restricted

David Holman, Director and co-founder of Armour Comms said; “At Armour we develop communications solutions that combine the usability of consumer-grade apps with enhanced security required by professional users. Armour Mobile is already widely used by defence and governments around the world. This new joint offering with Bittium offers absolute privacy for data and meta-data, that stays completely within the control of the organisation, on a robust smartphone.”

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Armour Comms attains ISO27001 certification

Secure communications supplier achieves ISO/IEC 27001:2013 in just six months

London, 30 March 2021: Armour Comms has been registered by Intertek Certification Limited as conforming to the requirements of the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard ensuring  that security is embedded within company culture, to minimise risks from cyber threats, and to ensure resilient processes and controls. The certification covers Armour’s Information Security Management System (ISMS) which encompasses the development and delivery of Armour’s flagship products Armour® Mobile and SigNet by Armour®, and all white-labelled products. Armour Comms provides trusted, secure instant collaboration solutions for mobile devices and desktops, that are widely used in Government, military and defence sectors around the world.

David Holman, Director and co-founder of Armour Comms said; “We are delighted that the ISO27001 certification for our company management processes has been achieved at the first attempt and within the ambitious timescales that we set ourselves. This is testament to the hard work and dedication from our technical and management team, all while operating under COVID-19 lockdown conditions.

“Achieving ISO27001 provides a strong baseline for our continued development of robust security solutions, that protect sensitive data, while delivering a great user experience on standard smartphone devices and desktops – an attractive alternative to consumer-grade apps designed for business use. End-user engagement is a key component of good security solutions and an area that we will continue to focus on within our ISO27001 product design processes.”

ISO/IEC 27001 details requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an information security management system – the aim of which is to help organisations make the information assets they hold more secure. It requires that management:

  • Initiates processes that examine the organisation’s information security assets, and assesses risks, threats, vulnerabilities and the associated possible impacts
  • Implements a series of integrated and comprehensive controls and risk management strategies that address risks to information security assets
  • Undertakes a program of continuous assessment and improvement to ensure that information security controls evolve to meet current and ongoing requirements

Dr. Andy Lilly, CTO and co-founder of Armour Comms added; “At Armour we have a strong track record in compliance with industry standards. We have previously completed CPA and NATO certifications, and Armour Mobile uses the NCSC’s MIKEY SAKKE protocols. Achieving ISO27001 certification demonstrates our continued holistic approach to security, throughout the entire lifecycle of our products which will ultimately benefit all customers, across all product lines.”

 

Armour Comms has published a podcast explaining the differences between CPA and ISO27001.  It can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v9aojG3EeQ&feature=youtu.be

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Armour Comms continues strong y-on-y growth

Working from Home requirements and increased security awareness around the dangers of consumer-grade apps fuel demand for Armour Mobile  

London, 16 February 2021: Armour Comms, the leading provider of specialist, secure communications solutions, has seen continued year-on-year growth during 2020. The company has achieved an increase in license revenue with annual recurring revenue (ARR) up 28%. Having secured its first round of outside investment of £2million from external investors in late 2019, Armour made a range of key appointments across the business to fast-track product development and address new markets. Revenue generated has been evenly spread across the regions with 30% from the UK, 33% from the Middle East, and 37% from the rest of the world.

David Holman, Director and co-founder of Armour Comms commented; “2020 has been a year of continued growth for Armour, despite the pandemic. In part this has been due to an increased awareness of the security shortcomings of using consumer-grade apps, particularly as people were forced to work from home.  We have also invested in our expansion with an increase in head count of 20%, mainly in development, quality assurance and customer support. We maintain a strong focus to ensure we develop solutions that are highly intuitive as well as maintaining appropriate levels of security.”

During 2020 Armour agreed terms with a number of new partners in key geographic regions and signed up several significant new customers, as well as expanding the Armour user-base in the military/defence and government sectors.

2020 also saw an increase in demand from enterprises in non-regulated industries for SigNet by Armour, a secure comms app based on Signal. SigNet, which uses AES-256 bit encryption, has been toughened with more enterprise-grade security features such as an on-premises option for total privacy (a cloud option is also available), no auditability, secure groups, allow listing features, and a much improved, highly intuitive user interface.

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Armour Comms announces new rapid provisioning functionality for Enterprise roll out of SigNet by Armour

Signal-based secure communications app extends enterprise features to support organisations moving away from WhatsApp  

London, 26 January 2021: Armour® Comms, the leading provider of specialist, secure communications solutions, has announced the availability of SigNet by Armour® v2.1, which includes new features designed specifically for enterprises.  SigNet by Armour, provides secure voice, video, messaging, group chat, file attachments and MessageBurn (timed messages) with AES-256 bit encryption for iOS and Android devices, and for use with Windows 10, macOS and Linux. Based on the well respected Signal app, SigNet by Armour provides additional security features such as an on-premises option for total privacy and no auditability (as well as the choice of cloud installation), secure groups and allow listing features, and a much improved, highly intuitive user interface.

New with SigNet v2.1 is support for QR codes and deep links for one-click provisioning which streamlines on-boarding new users, and saves time and resource for IT departments.

David Holman, Director at Armour Comms commented; “SigNet by Armour has been specifically designed for use by non-regulated organisations that require enterprise-grade secure communications.  SigNet provides a great user experience, with the assurance of absolute privacy for data and meta-data, that stays completely within the control of the enterprise. At a time of heightened concern about new privacy policies of consumer-grade messaging apps SigNet is a better, more secure alternative that is GDPR compliant, specifically designed for professional use.”

SigNet has a range of built-in features ideal for mitigating security threats in an enterprise environment, such as;

  • centralised control of device access so only authorised users can connect to the secure communications service;
  • files and attachments are kept within the app and therefore remain encrypted at all times, even when stored on the device;
  • management of connectivity between users and groups to provide security segregation within the user space.
  • automatic alert sent to the sender of a message if a screenshot has been taken by the recipient;
  • peer to peer encryption, removing the need for a central key server;
  • no recording or auditability;

SigNet by Armour is available as a Software as a Service (SaaS) product hosted on Armour’s secure cloud, or as an on-premises installation, and uses a peer-to-peer key management system.

Armour Comms has published a White Paper: Why WhatsApp Is Not Suitable for the Workplace. For a copy please email: andreina@pra-ltd.co.uk,

or download from: HERE

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The Deadline for Ditching WhatsApp

Facebook has declared its intentions for WhatsApp – and it’s not great news for business users (or anyone else for that matter).

Data is moving West!

We are seeing a worrying trend where tech behemoths are moving data away from the EU and back to the US, possibly, to avoid stringent GDPR data regulations.  WhatsApp has recently introduced a new policy for users outside of the EU where users are forced to agree to share their personal information with other Facebook companies. Details here: https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/06/whatsapp_privacy_policy_demand/

The original deadline for providing this permission was 8 February, after which time dissenting users will no longer be able to use the app. Due to public outcry and a mass exodus to other messaging platforms, the deadline has now been postponed to later in the year, BUT, we can see the direction of travel.  Users who already have privacy settings blocking sharing of their information will retain that protection, but for anyone else they could be giving up personal info such as names, profile pictures, status updates, phone numbers, contacts lists, IP addresses, mobile device model, operating system, network carrier, etc. and – if you engage with businesses via the app – sensitive details such as shipping addresses and the amount of money spent on orders.

Facebook looking for ROI?

When Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014 they stated that they would not look to monetise the WhatsApp user base for 5 years.  Those 5 years are now passed, and it is to be expected that Facebook will look to recoup its investment (some $22bn).  They initiated this with their drive to get businesses taking orders and providing support to customers over WhatsApp, and all that information could end up stored on Facebook’s servers if businesses opt to store it there.  While WhatsApp currently states that contact details will not be shared with Facebook for advertising purposes, they could be in future.

Data fallout from Brexit

Just before Christmas we saw a story that Facebook is moving the responsibility and legal obligations for UK users from its operations in Dublin to the US, due to Brexit and the UK’s changing relationship with the EU, albeit they also regard the UK as still being part of their “EU region”.  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-facebook-exclusive/exclusive-facebook-to-move-uk-users-to-california-terms-avoiding-eu-privacy-rules-idUSKBN28P2HH  Google made a similar announcement earlier in the year.

GDPR still applies, WhatsApp is NOT suitable for Business Use

At the moment, the UK’s data protection laws mirror those of GDPR.  For this reason alone, WhatsApp, and some other consumer-grade, social media messaging platforms, are not suitable for business use – and never have been. Some industry bodies, such as the Finance Conduct Authority are warning against its use: https://www.ftadviser.com/regulation/2021/01/11/fca-warns-advisers-on-using-whatsapp-and-social-media/

This latest change to its Terms and Conditions indicates Facebook’s ongoing intention to monetise its users, potentially opening up its options for dealing with UK users’ data, particularly in the advent of a UK and US trade deal, that includes handling data.

Our White Paper: Why WhatsApp is Not Suitable for the Workplace explains.  Download a copy HERE

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Medicomms by Armour selected for first NHSX Clinical Communications Procurement Framework

Secure mobile comms safeguard sensitive patient data and provide a more user friendly alternative to paging

 

London, 2nd September 2020: Armour Comms, the leading provider of specialist, secure communications solutions, has successfully tendered and been accepted on to the first ever edition of the NHSX Clinical Communications Procurement Framework, with its Medicomms by Armour solution.  Medicomms is designed specifically for use by health care professionals and patients.  It is an all-in-one mobile app that converges secure internal communications to help with the collection and sharing of sensitive patient data.  Medicomms is also an alternative to paging and has the ability to provide a medium for secure video consultations and time limited patient aftercare communications.

Medicomms is now available to all NHS Trusts via the new NHSX procurement framework, as a managed & hosted solution via Armour partner Nine23 using the NHS accredited FLEX platform, which can handle information up to OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE, enabling healthcare professionals to securely use Medicomms via mobile, tablet, and laptop devices from any operating system including iOS, Android and Windows10.

David Holman, Director at Armour Comms said; “We are delighted to have been included in this first iteration of the NHSX Clinical Communications Procurement Framework. Healthcare is a key market for Armour and our partner Nine23, the product is evolving fast to provide additional services and added value to healthcare users, such as integration with patient records and task management apps.”

Stuart McKean, CEO of Nine23 said; “Being awarded a contract on this NHSX framework demonstrates both Armour and Nine23’s commitment to enable front line users in the NHS to officially use today’s technology. The NHS front line should be able to use technology and between us we can replace those outdated systems with much better secure solutions.”

The NHSX Clinical Services Procurement Framework aims to support NHS organisations with dedicated clinical facing communication and tasks management tools, to accelerate the adoption of proven technologies and to phase out pagers by the end of 2021. The suppliers on the framework have been assessed to ensure that they meet all legislative requirements; therefore no formal tendering is required, saving valuable time and money in the procurement process.

 


Nine23

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SigNet by Armour™ is now shipping

Armour Comms extends its family of secure mobile comms solutions for new markets with AES 256 bit encryption solution

London, 11th August 2020: Armour Comms, the leading provider of specialist, secure communications solutions, has today announced the general availability of its AES 256 bit encryption solution, SigNet by Armour. Originally previewed at DSEI 2019, SigNet provides secure voice, high resolution video, messaging, group chat, file attachments and Message Burn (self destructing messages). As with all Armour Comms solutions, SigNet provides the same ease of use associated with consumer apps, but with hardened security features, and is available for use on iOS and Android devices as well as Windows 10, Linux and Mac OSX desktops.

SigNet by Armour addresses some specific security requirements and as such will be sold alongside Armour Mobile. It has a range of built-in features ideal for mitigating security threats in an enterprise environment, such as;

  • peer to peer encryption, removing the need for a central key server;
  • files and attachments are kept within the app and therefore remain encrypted at all times, even when stored on the device;
  • no recording or auditability;
  • automatic alert sent to the sender of a message if a screenshot has been taken by the recipient;
  • centralised control of device access so only authorised users can connect to the secure communications service;
  • management of connectivity between users and groups to provide security segregation within the user space.

David Holman, Director at Armour Comms stated; “SigNet by Armour has been designed for use by organisations, typically in unregulated industries, that require absolute privacy, and is based on different technology to our award winning Armour Mobile. For this reason the two product lines will run concurrently.  SigNet is already in use by some of our customers, and we are delighted that we are now able to make it generally available.”

Initially SigNet by Armour will be available as a Software as a Service (SaaS) product hosted on Armour’s secure cloud, and later, as an on-premises installation. SigNet uses a peer-to-peer key management system based on the double ratchet algorithm with prekeys and 3-DH key management to provide confidentiality, integrity, authentication, participant consistency, destination validation, forward secrecy, backward secrecy (aka future secrecy), causality preservation, message unlinkability, message repudiation, participation repudiation, and asynchronicity.