SCOTTSVILLE, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Castle Shield, a leading provider of applications and services based on a Zero Trust Architecture framework, today announces a research collaboration with Northern Arizona University (NAU), which seeks to develop new approaches to identifying, authenticating, and protecting devices for enterprises and consumers. As part of the partnership, Castle Shield and NAU executed a License Agreement that covers commercialization of licensed products and grants exclusive patent rights to products created under a Sponsored Research Agreement utilizing 12 existing patents and 8 pending patents. Patent rights are granted for all new patents created under a Sponsored Research Agreement until such patents are exhausted.
The research collaboration will be led by Dr. Bertrand Cambou, who joined NAU’s School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems in 2015, and the cybersecurity research team, which has been recognized for its track record in innovation. The School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems engages in a broad range of collaborative research projects with industry partners both Commercial and Federal. NAU cybersecurity team’s research in nanoelectronics and cybersecurity is well-supported in the multidisciplinary approach of the University.
The collaboration between Castle Shield and Northern Arizona University will focus on the following high-level areas:
- Securing Encryption Keys and Devices Using a Tamper-Resistant Token
- Adding Biometrics to the Tamper-Resistant Token in Subsequent Project Phases
- Applying the Secure Encryption Key and Device Protection to Other Devices using Nanotechnology such as Memristors and ReRAM
- Adding Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Support to existing Castle Shield’s Encryption Portfolio
The first collaborative project will be the co-development of a Tamper-Resistant Token that includes the following:
- An addressable PUF (Physically Unclonable Function) generator with ternary states,
- A ternary addressable public key infrastructure scheme,
- A Response-Based Cryptography (RBC) engine for error correction, and
- A tamper resistant key recovery protocol with a token.
- Motherboard/Daughterboard tamper-resistant Key recover Scheme
The first deliverables are an end-to-end solution that provides a temper resistance key recovery protocol integrated into a SRAM-based USB token, and the other provides the identical solution integrated into the Castle Shield’s end-customer motherboards or added to customers’ hardware as a daughterboard.
“Castle Shield’s proactive approach to cybersecurity coupled with their strategic drive to integrate innovative advances in encryption into commercial products such as Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) provides my team and I a commercialization pathway for our innovations. Castle Shield is at the forefront of finding and implementing solutions to protect the customer’s information for today and minimize attacks tomorrow. Our research, conducted by a team of PhDs and Northern Arizona University have a similar objective, and together with Castle Shield, we will form a powerful partnership to help companies and individuals proactively increase their cybersecurity posture,” said Cambou, professor of nanotechnology and cybersecurity at Northern Arizona. “At NAU, the cybersecurity team has generated 65 invention disclosures and filed 60 patent application, 35 of which have been granted.”
Castle Shield provides advanced solutions to partners and customers that protect their most valuable asset – their data. “We have implemented Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms into our existing Fides product family which are commercially available today; our symmetric and asymmetric encryption solutions are encryption agnostic thus enabling Castle Shield to delivery best-in-class crypto-agility for today and tomorrow,” said Dr. Milton Mattox, Castle Shield’s Chief Technology Officer. “Our collaboration with Northern Arizona University continues our aggressive goal in advancing research innovation with one of the nation’s most prolific inventors in the field of nanoelectronics and cybersecurity. Castle Shield’s mission is to provide leading edge cybersecurity solutions to protect the nation’s most precious asset—its data.”
About Castle Shield Holdings, LLC
Founded in 2019, Castle Shield offers a complete range of enterprise-grade cybersecurity solutions that protects enterprises and consumers against all internal and external cyber threats. Our Legion SIEM solution is the centerpiece of our technology solutions. It provides a window into all the security events occurring across the enterprise and provides an inside-out view of the customer's threat landscape including compliance. Senate, provides a third-party outside-in view from a network vulnerability, financial and compliance perspective. This includes a threat landscape assessment for the customers' vendors as well. Fides, Castle Shield’s quantum-resistant encryption solution, provides businesses and end-users the ability to encrypt data-in-motion, data-in-transit, and data-at-rest with quantum-resistant symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms with little to no added latency. Our Fides solution is integrated into other Castle Shield solutions to provide the highest level of security in those solution domains. For further information, please go to www.castle-shield.com.
About Northern Arizona University
Northern Arizona University is a high-research institution providing exceptional educational opportunities in Arizona and beyond. NAU delivers a student-centered experience to its nearly 30,000 students in Flagstaff, statewide and online through rigorous academic programs in a supportive, inclusive and diverse environment. Dedicated, world-renowned faculty help ensure students achieve academic excellence, experience personal growth, have meaningful research opportunities and are positioned for personal and professional success.
