Think of the last time you received a sensitive piece of information. Perhaps it was news of a highly anticipated project at work finally getting the green light, or maybe a not-for-public-consumption update about a friend’s pregnancy. Now recall what you did with that information. Did you keep it to yourself or did you share it with a significant other or trusted friend?

There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!

- a line from the 1992 film Sneakers

I’m happy to share that the Air Force, through its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, has awarded Privoro a prototyping contract for our government smartphone security solutions. You can learn more by reading our press release announcing the contract.

Organizations concerned about sensor abuse are now adopting the Privoro SafeCase™, a first-of-its-kind mobile security solution companion for smartphones that not only provides its own set of trusted sensors but also protects against illicit audio/video capture by hijacked cameras and microphones.

By John Chambers, Founder and CEO of JC2 Ventures and former CEO and Chairman of Cisco

As a mentor, investor, and longtime player in the tech industry, I’m frequently asked which market segments I’m betting big on over the coming decade. My knack for spotting market transitions and the technologies that will fuel these shifts partially stems from my relentless focus on outcomes. That’s why I approach investing like a multiplayer chess game; I play out the entire game, replay various scenarios and anticipate others’ moves before I make the decision to invest my time and resources.

In our discussions with federal employees working under smartphone bans at the Pentagon and other high-value buildings, there’s a common theme that emerges: frustration.

In the last 12 months, the threat of compromised smartphone cameras and microphones has taken on bigger real estate in the public consciousness, transforming from a largely abstract fear into a real, widespread and potentially devastating problem. The bad news is that this problem will get worse before it gets better. The good news is that security-centric organizations are looking for ways to proactively defend against this threat. So what will the next 12 months hold in store? Below, I’ve outlined six mobile security predictions for the coming year.

Last month, we released our second-generation product, the Privoro SafeCase, which is compatible with the iPhone 7 and 8. While SafeCase can be used by organizations for a variety of use cases, smartphone counter-surveillance protection is a core functionality. The case blocks the host smartphone’s cameras and actively masks each of the microphones with randomized noise. At Privoro, we believe that only physical, verifiable protections can overcome the threat of hijacked smartphone sensors targeting national security agencies, publicly traded companies and high-profile individuals.

The mobile security of political candidates and their staff gets lost in the shuffle when discussing threats to our elections. However, a series of trends point to mobile espionage becoming the next major vehicle for electoral interference. These trends include:

• The smartphone’s rising importance in conducting the day-to-day business of a political campaign
• The increasing use of intrusive smartphone surveillance tools to target political officials
• A growing appetite by malicious outsiders to interfere in elections by any means necessary

In this mobile security blog post, I’ll discuss the reasons why smartphones may be the next electoral hacking target and the potential consequences of such a shift.

Earlier this month, a controversial report in Bloomberg Businessweek ignited a larger conversation about a topic that has long been a concern of security professionals: the hacking of the hardware supply chain. The fear of backdoors built into devices isn’t new (see: the blacklisting of Huawei and ZTE products by the US government), but concrete evidence is rarely made available to the public.