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SAGESecured OS For Android Project

 Let the crusade for more reliable internet security begin!

With the SAGESecured Operating System project, we will provide the world more control over what does and does not run on any Android device, permanently eliminating the means and methods that can infect the device with malicious software, PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE. Beginning with Android, SAGESecured serves as a launching pad to bring a new gold standard security protocol to ALL operating systems which are ill-served with conventional best practices.

How Does SAGESecured Work?

Click on the video's play button below to find out!

SAGESecured is Process Based Security –a deny-all, permit only-what-the-owner-of-the-system- wants-to-have-running approach to security.  You control what can and can’t happen.  Makes sense, seems simple but it fundamentally changes the way we think of cyber protection. By limiting system access to predetermined processes and by limiting the scope of access to only what is necessary for the process to function, SAGESecured STOPS the execution of malicious programs.  The astute reader will correctly conclude that only allowing predetermined applications is a whitelist.  This is just the beginning for SAGESecured, though.  After mapping all necessary system resources for the application in question, SAGESecured deliberately shuts down any resources in excess of those needed by the predetermined applications.  Malware without access to system resources can do no harm.  To a very real extent the security we provide is a by-product of not allowing system resources to remain available for arbitrary code.

Think about Smart TVs, Smart Watches, Smart Fish Bowls, Smart Anything....as long as it is attached to the Internet it is a sitting duck.  With more and more connectivity to the Internet the model of anti-virus protection becomes less and less attractive.  It is bad enough to have to manage and maintain updates for the desktop, laptop, tablet, etc. Even if anti-virus were reliable, which it has never been, the aggravation of maintaining it is addressed when fixing the underlying cause.  Computer security should never be a "make work" proposition.  With our project and introduction of our protocol the underlying problem is fixed and people can deal with other things besides managing and maintaining unreliable updates.

When the Smart House or Smart Car gains traction the problem really needs to be fixed and not just treated.  With more devices being created for the Internet every day, a reliable, permanent solution instead of an ongoing headache of updates begins to make sense.  Our SAGESecured project will also help reclaim the desktop, laptop, tablet etc. from the security treadmill along with all the other Smart devices that are the "Internet of Things".  Our project is designed to get more reliable security into the hands of everyone so they can get off the security treadmill of exploit, patch, update....exploit, patch, update....etc.

Remember, computers and the Internet were designed to make life easier.  They were designed to work for the owner, not the other way around...the owner was not intended to work for the computer.

What is the Current Design Flaw for Computers & Mobile Devices?

Click on the video's play button below to find out!

Strictly speaking, the status quo for computer security is not as good as it gets. Properly configured, computers can be more secure than they have ever been since the dawn of the personal computer age. How secure is that? Out of the box they can be delivered permanently immune from that category of exploit involving the surreptitious loading and execution of arbitrary code. That means that spyware, ransomware and all worms, Trojan horses, viruses and similar exploits…Past, Present AND FUTURE can be relegated to the dustbin of history. Such exploits can be made irrelevant to all current and future computer users. Future generations of computer users will say “is it true that computers used to drop like flies?”…because such exploits will have become a footnote in history. You can have a major part in hastening the arrival of a more secure computer infrastructure.

Why SAGESecured Project?

Why is this protocol useful to the end user?  There are several reasons.

• First it delivers more reliable protection against the surreptitious loading and execution of arbitrary code than anything else currently available. It eliminates from worry a whole category of abuse such as spyware, keystroke loggers, ransomware, Trojan horses, viruses and all manner of exploits that involve the underhanded loading and implementation of arbitrary code. It eliminates not just past and present examples but future ones as well because it deals with the underlying cause of that malware…..not just the symptom. We could stop with this reason alone….that finally there is a reliable approach that does what it is supposed to do…..but there are more reasons.

• Secondly, this approach is more battery friendly than conventional best practices. Remember that a battery powered mobile device only has so much capacity…. Now mobile devices can either run what the owner bought the computer to run or it can run anti-virus software. Currently, battery power that is used to run security applications is not available to run those applications the owner really prefers to have running. With our new protocol the owner of the mobile device gets to use the battery to run the apps that the owner bought the device to run and enjoy.

• Thirdly, funds currently used for subscriptions for security software can be used for other things or saved as the owner of the device chooses.

• Fourth, even for static devices that are not battery powered but plugged into the electric grid, the CPU cycles that currently are used to run security software are available to run the applications that the owner prefers to run.

• Fifth, you have a lot better chance of protecting your privacy with a change prevention protocol than with conventional best practices.

What is the SAGESecured Story?

SAGESecured began as the brainchild of a Geek’s geek – the type of person who writes their own operating system and codes in Assembler for recreation.  

It all started in Amarillo, Texas, the Internet Security capitol of the universe since the late 1990s. :~) Once a week, he’d comment that the virus or worm of the week could be easily prevented.  After several weeks, he was challenged to prove that such “preventable” attacks could indeed be avoided.

This was the last days of the DOS operating system and he had a demo with DR DOS.  It included an infected file from a word processing application.  When the file was opened it was immediately denied access and no arbitrary code was surreptitiously loaded and executed.  With the introduction of Windows by Microsoft, the days for both DR DOS and MS DOS were numbered.  That was a shame because both operating systems could be readily modified to demonstrate the merits of the change prevention protocol that was imagined. We missed our chance to save the (cyber) world at that time.

With the advent of Windows, everyone seemed less concerned with security and more just fascinated by the shiny new toy that Microsoft had shared with the world.  Because Windows was proprietary,  there was no way to introduce a security protocol that can prevent all worms, viruses, Trojan horses and other malware that is surreptitiously loaded and executed and that conventional best practices can only address after a cyber-autopsy.  The next virus, etc. is always going to have free rein until its profile can be distributed in an update.  Polymorphic exploits basically render anti-virus software a moot point....
Read the rest of the story by clicking here.

PBS Development History Interactive Timeline

Explore our interactive PBS Development History Timeline by clicking here or on the timeline image below.

About The Project Creators

• Don Paxton, Vincent Larsen, & Art Scott

Other Resources Of Interest

• PROCESS BASED SECURITY AS IT APPLIES TO ANDROID WHITE PAPER
• IEEE SPECTRUM PODCAST: COMPUTERS: IT'S TIME TO START OVER (Podcast With Transcript) 
Steven Cherry interviews computer scientist Robert Watson, putting security first, wants to design with a "clean slate".  This discussion simply makes our case for us as to the validity of our security protocol.