Photo: SpiderOak

Privacy technology company SpiderOak has won a U.S. Air Force small business contract to adapt its OrbitSecure protocol to military use. OrbitSecure is an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) collection security system that can manage spacecraft and payloads when multiple parties are involved. 

SpiderOak said in a March 4 announcement that the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract will provide initial funding for research to integrate OrbitSecure into Air Force and U.S. Space Force systems, and to subject the system to a rigorous assessment. According to the company, this will help fulfil a need of the Armed Services for zero-trust software to create secure cryptographic communication channels in an ephemeral manner.

Michael Campanelli, vice president of federal for SpiderOak, commented: “This contract is a key waypoint in the evolution of our company and our success in space. We see this as a vote of confidence in our technology by the Air Force, and the chance to demonstrate that success in military applications will follow our recent advances with commercial clients.”