Assessing Security of Encrypted Messaging Applications (ASEMA)
SBIR Opportunity Analysis
DARPA, within the Department of Defense, is seeking a Direct to Phase II SBIR effort to assess the security of encrypted secure messaging applications and develop ways to defend them against real-world attack. The work centers on characterizing SMA attack surfaces and building prototype models, frameworks, and methods that identify security boundaries, protections, and mitigations, along with tools for evaluating security features. The emphasis is on application and mobile operating system security rather than cryptographic protocols, and proposers must show feasibility through existing work and demonstrate expertise in computer science, vulnerability research, and software engineering. The solicitation is pre-release, opens on April 15, 2026, and closes with proposals due by May 13, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC.