SandboxAQ, the quantum spin-off from Alphabet continues to rack up government contract wins, as the company and subcontractor partners Microsoft and Deloitte & Touche LLP have been awarded a significant cybersecurity contract by the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).
The contract goes by a rather wordy description–the Prototype Quantum Resistant Cryptography Public Key Infrastructure Other Transaction Authority Agreement–but essentially calls for DISA to implement a prototype based on SandboxAQ’s AI-powered Security Suite for end-to-end cryptographic management, vulnerability detection and remediation, and cryptographic agility, and which also supports quantum-resistant algorithms soon to be standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
DISA selected SandboxAQ from a pool of vendors after a three-phase process. DISA is just the latest federal government agency to work with the company, as it also has done business with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Air Force.
SandboxAQ engaged Microsoft to provide the DevSecOps platform, and picked global systems integrator Deloitte & Touche LLP for their respective software and services capabilities. Both subcontractors have extensive experience supporting the technology needs of the federal government.
“As part of the prototype OTA agreement, SandboxAQ’s unique focus on cryptographic agility could enable U.S. government customers to automatically and seamlessly protect their IT infrastructures from both current cyber threats as well as future threats such as those posed by quantum computers,” said Jen Sovada, Global Public Sector President at SandboxAQ. “This first-of-its-kind program offers a pathway to protect DISA networks and data through follow-on deployments to wider architectures.”
Dan O’Shea has covered telecommunications and related topics including semiconductors, sensors, retail systems, digital payments and quantum computing/technology for over 25 years.