New technology allows Air and Space Force members to use personal devices

United States Air Force airmen and U.S. Space Force guardsmen will soon be able to take their phones to work. Following the U.S. Army’s lead in its Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) initiative, the two services, which are part of the Department of the Air Force, will allow service members to participate in the Hypori Halo Workspace Anywhere program.

According to the Air Force Times report, Airmen and caregivers will have access to government applications, email, NIPRNet, Common Access Care (CAC) sites and even “sensitive data” via personal devices – including smartphones and tablets. Hypori Halo Workspace Anywhere also meets expectations, providing access in the office or on the go.

Jared Shepard, CEO and president of Hypori, said that about 50,000 soldiers use the platform, which provides access to Army 365 services.

BYOD is becoming the norm

The U.S. military is slowly embracing the BYOD trend, and with good reason. One unsecured cell phone can be the weak link in the cybersecurity chain.

“This is a very important issue because the military has to secure some of the most sensitive information imaginable, so it has to be done right,” said Paul Martini, CEO of iboss, a zero trust security solutions provider.

“As Air and Space Force service members need to access information and data while away from the office or rely on their personal devices, Zero Trust initiatives are needed to ensure secure connectivity and ensure highly sensitive information is not lost or stolen,” Martini told ClearanceJobs. “Legacy cyber solutions that only verify a user’s identity are not enough because to truly secure remote users and devices, each information request must be individually reviewed.”

As a result, service members have historically been able to carry multiple devices – but Hypori will eliminate that need while ensuring complete and appropriate separation of data and access. Additionally, reservists and part-time service members will have limited access to core networks.

“The program reflects the realities of our world,” suggested Morgan Wright, chief security officer of cybersecurity solutions provider SentinelOne. Work is something you do, not a place you go. The ability to perform many administrative and operational tasks allows staff to work from anywhere. However, it has been limited to accessing only the lowest level of sensitive information, CUI, Controlled Unclassified Information, and NIPRNet, an unclassified network. It consolidates the number of devices needed, controls costs, and improves auditing and accountability.”

Hypori Halo Workspace can be anywhere

Hypori’s technology could enable BYOD to expand to the military, in part because of the way it’s configured.

“Conceptually, Hypori provides a virtual desktop that soldiers can use, meaning there is no federal government data on their devices,” explains Karen Walsh, CEO of Allegro Solutions, a cybersecurity solutions provider.

“The Hypori operating system is virtualized, meaning it’s separate from the device’s operating system, so any compromise of the device won’t affect federal data,” Walsh told ClearanceJobs. “Essentially, all of the government data is in this cloud environment, which is separate from anything else on the device. You can think of it as a version of the data of a two-family home. The same home—in this case, the device—can provide access to two different residences. In the case of data, user applications and government data.”

Losing your device will not allow you to access U.S. Air Force or Space Force data.

“A thief would have to break into both apartments separately, breaching different security measures,” Walsh added. “While the first-floor apartment may not have an alarm system installed, the second-floor apartment may have an alarm system and a security camera for added protection. Similarly, by separating the user’s device from where the government data resides, an attacker would have to breach Hypori’s government environment, not just the user’s device, to access the federal data.”

The Future of BYOD and the Military

Hypori’s technology could enable more soldiers to use personal devices, but experts warn there may still be some shortcomings.

“The most important thing to understand is that the type of controls available on a personal device simply cannot match those available on an organization-owned device. This is largely due to privacy concerns that need to be addressed so that end users can feel comfortable using their personal device in the workplace,” Michael Covington, vice president of portfolio strategy at device management and security firm Jamf, told ClearanceJobs.

“BYOD is a fantastic concept that, if implemented well, can provide many benefits to an organization and the end user. The key is to understand that it’s not an either/or decision,” Covington added. “Companies should explore BYOD, embrace it where possible, but still offer service levels based on clearly defined device requirements.”

There are still concerns about inadvertent data leakage, even if most content is stored in the cloud.

“Forbes recently published an article about how a fitness app was used to track Israeli soldiers. The same thing happened to the U.S. military four years ago,” warns Wright, who told ClearanceJobs. “No matter how many QA reviews are conducted, there will inevitably be a security issue that develops from an edge case that was not considered during design and field testing. It is important to note, however, that the program is voluntary, not mandatory. It offers significant cost savings and is essentially an application that opens a remote desktop.”