Background and achievements
UM Labs was founded to research the cybersecurity challenges of running real-time communication applications on IP networks. Building on many years of experience with general-purpose firewalls, email security and web security, the company developed a security platform designed specifically for real-time communications. Development was driven initially by a need to secure SIP, the protocol replacing legacy technology on the global fixed and mobile phone networks. With support from the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the platform was then extended secure streaming video for static and mobile surveillance. The work on streaming video was further extended to provide security for Augmented Reality after a request by BT to secure a Cloud Extended Reality (CXR) application built using NVIDA’s Omniverse SDK.
UM Lab’s products, including our platform for AR security are deployed and protecting applications run by government, defence and national communication service providers including on networks with elevated security classification levels.
Challenges to be addressed by AR
The adoption of AR in areas with heightened security needs, such as health, manufacturing and defence requires robust security. Analysis by UM Labs has shown that AR applications developed using popular SDKs often lack essential security controls including device authentication, device life-cycle management and effective encryption. The UM Labs platform addresses this problem by extending security from Core to Edge.
Why AR is a strategic area
AR is a strategic area for UM Labs as our technology ensures the security of AR applications including the present and future integrity and confidentiality of network data. Quantum computing poses a real-future threat to all network applications as Shor’s algorithm running on a suitable quantum computer will enable current cryptographic algorithms to be cracked in real time. To counter this future threat, all UM Labs platforms include Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms meeting the FIPS standards.
