Category: News

Armour delivers even more control to the end user to safeguard communications involving sensitive information

London, 26 June 2018: Armour Communications, a leading provider of specialist, secure communications solutions, has announced availability of its latest innovation Armour Mobile Message Burn.  Message Burn limits the lifespan of sensitive data at rest. Users can set a time at which their messages are automatically deleted (or as the name implies, ‘burn’) on the recipient’s device. This can be either a future date and time, or an amount of time after the message has been read by the recipient and can be set as a default and altered message-by-message according to their confidentiality.

Armour provides a wide range of capabilities for secure communications which include:

Armour Mobile – secure calls, UK Government certified by NCSC for use at OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE and with additional security layers able to handle SECRET. Users can switch between Voice and Video and back, mid-call.

Armour Desktop – extends the secure mobile communications capabilities of Armour Mobile via a Windows 10 softphone.

Unified Communications – Armour Mobile integrates with Skype for Business, enabling organisations to benefit from the reduced costs and increased flexibility of Voice over IP communications.

Armour Blue – which includes Push to Talk features designed for Blue Light services.

David Holman, director at Armour Communications said: “Message Burn is the latest in a long line of specialist security features for Armour Mobile, and has been developed as a direct result of listening to the requirements of our customers. At Armour we aim to provide the most flexible secure communications platform, while adhering to industry best practices and providing NCSC approved solutions for security-conscious organisations around the world.”

A UK government certified solution, Armour Mobile can be downloaded from the app stores and used on company issued or staff owned devices (BYOD). It is easily deployed and centrally managed either on the Armour secure cloud, or as a full on-premises installation, giving a completely secured and controlled solution.

Armour Mobile provides secure voice calls, video calls, one-to-one and group messaging, voice and video conference calls, file attachments and sent/received/read message status. Using a FIPS 140-2 validated crypto core, Armour Mobile has been awarded many other certifications including CPA (Commercial Product Assurance) from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and is included in the NATO Information Assurance catalogue.

Armour welcomes NCSC to Secure Chorus

London, UK, 30 April, 2018, Dr Andy Lilly, CTO of Armour Communications, has been elected as Chairperson of the Secure Chorus Technical Standards Committee.  Armour Comms are a founding member of Secure Chorus, which recently welcomed the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) into the organisation. Secure Chorus serves as a platform for public-private sector collaboration in developing a security baseline for secure multimedia communications: this is a key strand in the UK’s digital economy strategy, “to make the UK the safest place to live and do business online”, as regularly espoused by Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Culture and Sport (DCMS).

Dr Lilly commented: “In addition to the UK government’s requirement to protect OFFICIAL and OFFICIAL SENSITIVE communications, it is key that the resulting multimedia systems provide interoperability between different vendor systems, to support the creation of pan-government and pan-enterprise collaboration capabilities. The definition of suitable forward-looking technical standards is critical to enabling this interoperability and promoting the growth of the associated networks and services both across the UK and internationally.”

Armour has had a key role in Secure Chorus since the group’s formation, working to define and develop the underlying security technologies into products such as Armour Mobile, demonstrating how communications applications can be created that combine the ease-of-use of social media apps while providing the security and seat-of-trust needed by government, defence, finance, healthcare and enterprises who need to protect and control their mobile communications on off-the-shelf, commercial smartphones, tablets and desktops.

About the National Cyber Security Centre

• The UK Government is fully committed to defending against digital threats and set up the National Cyber Security Centre last year through the five-year National Cyber Security Strategy, supported through £1.9 billion transformative investment.

• The NCSC provides a single, central body for cyber security at a national level and is the UK’s technical authority on cyber. It manages national cyber security incidents, carries out real-time threat analysis and provides tailored sectoral advice.

• GCHQ is the parent body for the Centre, meaning that it can draw on the organisation’s world-class skills and sensitive capabilities.

About Secure Chorus Ltd

• Secure Chorus is a not-for-profit, membership organisation, serving as a platform for public-private collaboration and development of common standards and capabilities for secure communication for the global digital economy.

For more information visit www.securechorus.org and follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter.

  

London, 24 April 2018: Armour Communications and Metro Communications have joined forces to help businesses and VIPs keep their calls, messages and data private and confidential.

Armour Mobile enables secure collaboration between trusted colleagues when discussing commercially sensitive information such as corporate deals, intellectual property matters, financial transactions, customer negotiations or for VIP’s the details of their day to day lives.

Armour Mobile prevents mobile communications including voice, messaging, file transfers, video or even conferencing from being intercepted by illicit or unwarranted surveillance, keeping both conversations and associated data private. Importantly, Armour Mobile can provide this not just in a local environment, but also for the corporate traveller keeping communications secure even when using untrusted networks, anywhere in the world.

David Holman, a director at Armour Communications commented; “Armour Comms is committed to working with our partners to  deliver secure mobile communications on every day devices to businesses and high profile individuals. Metro Communications brings a solid track record of dealing with corporate executives and high profile individuals and doing so in a discerning, confidential and trusted manner. We are delighted to partner with Metro Communications and look forward to delivering our  secure mobile solutions to Metro Communications customers.”

Armour Mobile provides secure voice calls, video calls, one-to-one and group messaging, voice and video conference calls, file attachments and sent/received/read message status. Using a FIPS 140-2 validated crypto core, Armour Mobile has been awarded many other certifications including CPA (Commercial Product Assurance) from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and is included in the NATO Information Assurance catalogue.

Peter Matthews, CEO of Metro Communications, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Armour Communications to provide a world-class service to our customers – businesses and high-profile individuals. Organised criminals, lone-wolf hackers and state-sponsored organisations are accessing private phone calls, messages and data sent from mobile phones. This is a very real threat, and it will only increase. Armour Mobile has been certified by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and approved by NATO. This powerful, user-friendly app removes many security concerns for businesses and VIPs, giving them complete peace of mind.”

Metro Communications provides only the highest quality telecommunications and IT solutions to people and businesses. Metro customers who pass strict security checks can now use Armour Mobile to keep their communications as they should be – secure and confidential.

SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 17, 2018 – Five British cyber security companies will showcase their ground-breaking products and services to the US market at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on April 16-20, 2018.

The companies will demonstrate their innovative solutions in a broad range of cyber security requirements – such as the protection of critical assets and infrastructure, prevention and detection of cybercrime, as well as their commitment to cutting-edge research – at the UK Pavilion and through a series of ancillary events, with the support of the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT). The companies look to develop close partnerships and forge lasting relationships that will support the US cyber security sector in its aims of securing the safety of the nation.

• Armour Communications will show a new Message Burn capability for Armour Mobile, which gives users the ability to set a burn time for particularly sensitive messages.
• Bob’s Business will demonstrate its specialty in developing and delivering information security awareness campaigns.
• iProov will demonstrate its new HTML5, no-app mobile web solution, which won the Best of Show Award at Finovate Europe.
• Garrison will showcase its unique Silicon Assured Video Isolation technology, which provides a game-changing platform for secure remote browsing.
• MetaCompliance will showcase its platform, which has the highest-quality cyber security and compliance e-learning content available on the market.

 

DIT will also partner with British Secure Mobile Gateway company Wandera to host a night focused on UK cyber excellence. The evening will feature Jane Frankland, a UK cyber security expert and author of the book IN Security, about why women in cyber security should be the standard and not the exception. She will remark on her 20+ years in the industry and host an exclusive book signing.

The UK’s cyber security industry, worth $31 billion and growing at a rate of 10% per year, is respected across the globe for its expertise, breadth of capabilities, and world-class advice, products and services.

Last month, DIT’s Secretary of State Dr. Liam Fox launched a new Cyber Security Export Strategy to promote the UK’s world-leading expertise and to strengthen defense capabilities in the UK and allied countries. Composed of approximately 800 innovative companies, the UK cyber sector currently exports $2.1 billion worth of technology and services per year, a number anticipated to grow in line with the overall global spend on cyber security products, expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2021. This new cyber security export strategy supports the ongoing work of the 2016 National Cyber Security Strategy, which invested in the cyber security industry to ensure the UK is secure, resilient to cyber threats, prosperous, and confident in the digital world.

Andrew Whittaker, Her Majesty’s Consul General to San Francisco, said:

“The UK government’s commitment to cyber security is clear. Our world-leading National Cyber Security Centre is now 18 months old and doing excellent work as the authoritative voice on information security in the UK, and the recently published Cyber Security Export strategy will help support British firms in overseas markets. The government’s $2.7 billion investment in its National Cyber Security Strategy will ensure that the UK continues to lead the development of cyber security capability across the world, and the five companies at RSA next week are fantastic exemplars of British excellence in this field.“

Government certified secure mobile communications app continues to lead market with expanded functionality

London, 15 February 2018: Armour Communications, a leading provider of specialist, secure communications solutions, has today announced the general availability of Armour Desktop.  Armour Desktop extends the secure mobile communications capabilities of Armour Mobile via a Windows 10 softphone and is fully interoperable with Armour Mobile.

David Holman, a director of Armour Communications said: “At Armour we are committed to extending our range of secure communications solutions that enable trusted colleagues to collaborate safe in the knowledge that their mobile conversations and associated metadata is secure. Our new Armour Desktop which runs on Windows 10 enables staff both inside and outside of the organisation to communicate within a secure and private environment, while taking advantage of the reduced costs and increased flexibility of Voice over IP communications.”

A government certified solution, Armour Mobile can be downloaded from the app stores and used on company-issued or staff owned devices (BYOD). It is easily deployed and centrally managed either on the Armour secure cloud, or as a full on-premises installation, giving a completely secured and controlled solution.

Armour Mobile provides secure voice calls, video calls, one-to-one and group messaging, voice and video conference calls, file attachments and sent/received/read message status. Using a FIPS-140-2 validated crypto core, Armour Mobile has been awarded many other certifications including CPA (Commercial Product Assurance) from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and is included in the NATO Information Assurance catalogue.

For more information or to download Armour Desktop click here

London, 13 February 2018: Armour Communications, a leading provider of specialist, secure communications solutions, has announced that it has been included in Gartner’s Market Guide for Secure Instant Communications[i]. The 2017 Market Guide defines secure instant communications solutions as those that “protect the confidentiality and integrity of voice, text and video communications sent over mobile and wireless networks, while also providing archiving functionality.” Armour Communications is listed alongside other Representative Vendors that offer security instant communications.

David Holman, a director of Armour Communications said: “We are delighted to be included in Gartner’s Market Guide for Secure Instant Communications. We believe that, with regulatory compliance and the increased number of privacy-invading mobile apps now prevalent, security and risk managers are looking for solutions that enable secure communications and archiving for voice and text in order to protect important and confidential information.

“To us, what is apparent from the Market Guide is that organisations should not rely upon consumer apps to protect their communications. We feel that, while they may provide some security capabilities, they are inadequate to ensure proper enterprise-level security. We believe that features such as an administrator account, integration with directory services, archiving, monitoring and encryption certifications are all essential to manage secure communications across an enterprise.”

Gartner states in the Market Guide that “Security leaders in organizations that have a real need for protecting instant communications will discover that the total cost of purchasing and implementing an enterprise-grade solution is not as high as having to make a consumer solution work in specific enterprise scenarios.”

Armour Mobile is a government certified solution and can be downloaded from the app stores and used on company-issued or staff owned devices (BYOD). It is easily deployed and centrally managed either on the Armour secure cloud, or as a full on-premises installation, giving enterprises high security, control and privacy for their corporate data.

Armour Mobile provides secure voice calls, video calls, one-to-one and group messaging, voice and video conference calls, file attachments and sent/received/read message status. Using a FIPS-140-2 validated crypto core, Armour Mobile has been awarded many other certifications including CPA (Commercial Product Assurance) from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and is included in the NATO Information Assurance catalogue.

[1] Gartner, ‘Market Guide for Secure Instant Communications’, Dionisio Zumerle, Gregg Pessin, 18 December 2017, ID: G00314063.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Government certified secure mobile communications app continues to lead market with expanded functionality

London, 15 January 2018: Armour Communications, a leading provider of specialist, secure communications solutions, has today announced the release of the latest version of Armour Mobile.  Armour Mobile, which provides the same easy to use experience as consumer-grade (free) apps but with the benefit of significantly enhanced security, now enables users to switch between Voice and Video and back, mid-call, and introduces new capabilities for managing group chat members and group chat list owners.  Unlike other apps, Armour Mobile does not require all users to move to video simultaneously. With Armour Mobile, a single user may switch to video, which can be particularly useful when one caller is on a low bandwidth connection.

David Holman, a director of Armour Communications said: “At our customers request we have upgraded Armour Mobile to provide the option for a participant in a call to select voice or video during a call, giving users maximum flexibility with their communications and we have extended the management features of chat groups. This provides our users with all the great features they see in some consumer-grade apps, but from a known and trusted organisation.”

A government certified solution, Armour Mobile can be downloaded from the app stores and used on company-issued or staff owned devices (BYOD). It is easily deployed and centrally managed either on the Armour secure cloud, or as a full on-premises installation, giving enterprises high security, control and privacy for their corporate data.

Armour Mobile provides secure voice calls, video calls, one-to-one and group messaging, voice and video conference calls, file attachments and sent/received/read message status. Using a FIPS-140-2 validated crypto core, Armour Mobile has been awarded many other certifications including CPA (Commercial Product Assurance) from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and is included in the NATO Information Assurance catalogue.

 

Growth accelerates as demand for Secure Mobile communications increases across Government and Enterprise 

London, 14 November 2017: Armour Communications, a leading provider of specialist, secure communications solutions, has seen unprecedented growth in the last few months with many new customers and industry partners. During the last quarter Armour Comms has agreed terms/installed its flagship Armour Mobile at three high profile Government departments, and has got its fledgling US operation off to a flying start with signed deals. Armour is now working with 15 technology and innovation partners to deliver its higher assurance solution Armour Black, and its Push To Talk variant Armour Blue. In order to support partners and customers Armour has also launched a new website which will include portals for specific content and marketing material for partner and customer audiences.

David Holman, a director at Armour Communications said: “We’ve had a very strong quarter. As well as three major contracts signed, we have pilot projects running with several more government departments and law enforcement agencies. We have a number of new technology partners, who will be instrumental in our development of further higher assurance solutions through our Armour Black family of products. To support all this growth and development we have recruited several new members of staff for development, quality and testing.”

As well as 15 technology and innovation partners that Armour Comms is currently working with internationally, the company is actively looking to increase that number and expects to have four more partners to announce by the end of the year.

In the US, Armour Mobile has been selected by Huckworthy, a HUBZone certified small business and US Department of Defence Mentor Protégé Program Participant under The Boeing Company, to be an integral part of Huckworthy’s technology solutions. The company selected Armour Mobile for its ability to be offered as a private or cloud hosted solution, its ability to deliver voice, video, messaging and data transfer security with internationally recognised certifications, and a trusted UK based pedigree.

Armour Mobile provides secure voice calls, video calls, one-to-one and group messaging, voice and video conference calls, file attachments and sent/received/read message status. It is FIPS-140-2 validated and has been awarded many other certifications including CPA (Commercial Product Assurance) from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and is included in the NATO Information Assurance catalogue.

Armour Mobile meets stringent criteria required by noted commercial off the shelf wireless specialist and US Department of Defence Mentor Protégé Program Participant

London, 19 October 2017: Armour Communications, a leading provider of specialist, secure communications solutions, has announced that Armour Mobile has been selected by Huckworthy, a HUBZone certified small business and US Department of Defence Mentor Protégé Program Participant under The Boeing Company, to be an integral part of Huckworthy’s technology solutions. As a small business government contractor in the US, Huckworthy specialises in developing and providing communication solutions in advanced cellular technology, partnering with leading technology innovators to deliver certified and proven commercial products. The company selected Armour Mobile for its ability to be offered as a private or cloud hosted solution, its ability to deliver voice, video, messaging and data transfer security with internationally recognised certifications, and a trusted UK based pedigree.

Armour Mobile enables secure collaboration between trusted colleagues when discussing commercially sensitive information such as corporate intellectual property, financial transactions and customer details. Armour Mobile prevents mobile communications including voice, messaging, file transfers, video or even conferencing from being intercepted by illicit or unwarranted surveillance, keeping both conversations and associated metadata private. Importantly, Armour Mobile can provide this not just in a local environment, but also across for the global corporate traveller.

David Howgill, President of Huckworthy said; “Working for both government and high value clients in the financial and legal sectors, our focus is on finding, evaluating and integrating the latest, and most trusted, technology solutions. We have offered commercially encrypted communications for some years, and after thorough research and due diligence we have now selected Armour Mobile as best in class when offered as part of our integrated solutions.  We’re proud to offer Armour Mobile in the USA for both our government end clients, and commercially through our reseller partner networks.”

David Holman, a director at Armour Communications commented; “This partnership reinforces our proven experience in delivering secure mobile communications against the most demanding certification and performance criteria. Huckworthy has a noteworthy background in delivering communications solutions that ensure security of the highest level for its clients, both government and commercial, and we are delighted to have met their stringent requirements.”

Armour Mobile provides secure voice calls, video calls, one-to-one and group messaging, voice and video conference calls, file attachments and sent/received/read message status. It is FIPS-140-2 validated and has been awarded many other certifications including CPA (Commercial Product Assurance) from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and is included in the NATO catalogue.