How do you make a military tablet both rugged and ultra-secure? We put this question to Muse Electronics Managing Director Philipp Lechner. The Viennese wants to use Backbone the “most secure tablet in the world”. His recipe for success: selective, demonstrably secure connections.
Mr Lechner, digitalization and networking have long been a major topic in most armed forces. Is it still possible without it?
No, everything is increasingly permanently networked, which has many advantages as well as some disadvantages. It speeds up processes and improves productivity, enabling armies to respond to threats faster, more effectively and more powerfully. Ultimately, however, how efficiently networking actually works depends on the extent to which we can support it.
Do you think networking can also overwhelm us?
Of course! The flood of data and information that we collect is almost unmanageable – we experience this every day between apps, emails and multiple social media channels in parallel. Keeping track of this is not easy and is also highly individual. What one person can still see through is already overwhelming for another – and vice versa. At the end of the day, we still need to find out what dose we can expect. It’s a bit like driving a car.
In what way?
The automotive industry was also the first to ensure that mobility was created. Compatibility and safety were given rather less thought.
“our product empowers
the military world to ensure its own security again.”Muse Electronics-Geschäftsführer Philipp Lechner
In Austria, seat belts were only made compulsory in 1976.
That’s what I mean. In the beginning, there were only a few cars and they were still traveling very slowly – despite the few safety measures, accidents only had serious consequences in exceptional cases. Over time, however, cars became faster, the number of vehicles increased and so did the number of accidents, injuries and fatalities. People therefore began to think about safety. Seat belts were introduced and today, thanks to driver assistance systems, airbags and many other measures, we are even safer on the road.
And is it similar with networking?
Exactly. We have created networks at any cost and for any purpose – often without paying attention to negative consequences such as possible cyber attacks. These risks are only now becoming an issue and the war in Ukraine (-> current news from the Ukraine war) has shown that cyber attacks are a perfect weapon for subversive attacks. The task now is to minimize these risks. And we are currently at this turning point.
With Backbone, your company produces what it describes as the “world’s most secure tablet”. In this respect, you are right in the middle of this development towards more security, aren’t you?
Definitely. Our product empowers the military world to take care of its own security again. And with a very simple principle.
Namely?
In digital attacks, zeros and ones generally try to penetrate systems and paralyze them. But this only works if there is a connection. If this is cut, the zeros and ones cannot get into the system.
And Backbone is therefore cutting this connection?
At least selectively, but also completely if required. All other manufacturers rely on permanent networking via various connection channels with all the associated risks. However, we have developed a system architecture in which the user decides when a connection to the outside world is established and when it is not. All features and functionalities of Backbone, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, camera or microphone, can be switched off, but this does not mean that they can no longer be used. We completely disconnect the services from the power supply and without a power connection there is no data connection, which is a game changer, especially in the military sector. In this way, we ensure that secrets remain secret – and cannot be read by a counterpart in the background.
Part of this security architecture is also that the data is not stored on the tablet, but on a boot medium, right?
Exactly, whereby not only the data is stored on this boot medium, but the operating system and all access authorizations are also stored there. The tablet is therefore generic in itself, the system is supplied from outside and users can access different functions and security levels depending on the stored authorizations – or not.
Does this approach also allow the device to be used by multiple users?
Yes, because everyone has their own individual boot medium with their own security classifications and roles and the hardware adapts to this and creates the appropriate security environment. Due to the physical separation of data, this happens without a back door through which information could flow out unnoticed. Furthermore, data or classified information is never stored on the tablet – if the device or a boot medium falls into the hands of an adversary, they cannot do anything with it.
You took a lot of time to develop Backbone.
A lot, yes, more than ten years. But this time was also necessary in order to constantly develop and perfect our approach. It all started in 2011 with a feasibility study for a hardened data terminal, because two soldiers approached me and told me that they wanted a device that was robust and could withstand difficult climatic conditions.
And you have recognized the problem as an opportunity?
I found that extremely appealing. It was important to me right from the start that we weren’t just developing a tablet. The aim was to develop a real right to exist on the market with an innovative approach – and we have definitely succeeded.
How have you ensured that you are not developing in line with the market and demand?
This is a very difficult topic because we always had our eyes on the horizon in order to develop something innovative for the future. Of course, you run the risk of overlooking something important. That’s why we started very early on, also as part of a FORTE research program with the armed forces which was and is extremely important to us. This enabled us to gain a lot of feedback, incorporate it directly into the product and improve both user-friendliness and usability enormously.
When you talk about user-friendliness: For which specific application scenarios was Backbone developed? What use cases do you see?
We definitely see ourselves in the practical field, in the military field service, if you want to call it that. This involves, for example, the display and processing of situation maps. Retrieving and processing critical information and many other data and messages that are essential for the success of missions.
-> Apple Podcasts
-> Spotify
-> Podigee
-> Deezer
-> Youtube version
What exactly is the current status of Backbone? Development is complete, isn’t it?
Yes, this has been completed – together with a production partner based in Europe, we are about to start series production. There is already a great deal of interest from Germany and abroad and we expect to be able to announce the first concrete contracts soon.
“we make sure that secrets remain secret – and cannot be read in the background by someone else
”Muse Electronics-Geschäftsführer Philipp Lechner
But there is not only interest from the defense sector, is there?
Backbone is a product that can be used wherever data security and situational awareness are required and crisis management software is needed. This also includes the police and fire departments, for example. As part of a research project, there is already a cooperation with the fire department supplier Rosenbauer. Rosenbauer’s Connected Command deployment management software is used on the Backbone Tablet. However, our technology is certainly also interesting for completely different areas – after all, cyber is a cross-sectional matter that covers practically all areas of life.
Which brings us back to the beginning of our conversation, doesn’t it?
Exactly. Networking and digitalization are omnipresent, which means that there are areas everywhere that need to be protected. We may not solve all the problems with Backbone, but we certainly solve more than all the current systems on the market. We are definitely closing a capability gap.
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