R&K Cyber Solutions LLC, a Manassas, Va., company, has entered into a semi-exclusive research and development license with an option to a commercial license for ORNL's Universal Serial Bus Architecture for Removable Media (USB-ARM). The cyber security technology intercepts the insertion of removable media, isolates the media from the operating system, and performs scans of the device to detect malware while also blocking executable content. The license gives R&K Cyber Solutions the ability to test and evaluate the technology and assess its commercial potential.
USB-ARM negotiates all communication between removable media and the operating system via a set of user-defined criteria that is met prior to allowing a user to access to the removable media. USB-ARM was selected by the Department of Homeland Security's Transition to Practice Program as an innovative technology with high commercial appeal.
USB-ARM was originally developed by the Computational Sciences and Engineering Division's Logan Lamb, Craig Shue and Nate Paul. CSED staff members Rima Awad and Stacy Prowell are now upgrading USB-ARM under a royalty-funded technology maturation project. S&T Partnerships' David Sims negotiated the license and Colin Cini managed the patent prosecution.