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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Space and defense contractors across north Alabama are taking part in the Space & Missile Defense Symposium at the Von Bruan Center this week. Companies like Gray Analytics are sharing their latest innovations, like ChainShield, a software focused on improving security in military supply chains.

There are a few differences between your regular supermarket supply chain and the national security supply chain. Gray Analytics says if a manufactured part fails in a defense product, the re-supply options are fewer than a commercial product. Some defense products may only be produced by a single supplier.

ChainShield, developed by SAP National Security Services and Gray Analytics, helps supply chain managers determine information about where products are coming from.

“What ChainShield does is it used open-source intelligence. It uses advanced analytics, proprietary algorithms and It funnels all this information into one data lake,” said Jay Town, the Vice President & General Counsel for Gray Analytics.

Town says ChainShield’s data bank has been a high-demand product given the national security risks in military supply chains. The software will provide a plethora of information.

“What country it came from. What company it came from. Whether the board of directors for that company has some kind of relationship with a foreign country,” said Town.

That information will soon be available Instantly to the people who need it. Gray Analytics says cybercriminals and U.S. adversaries have produced faulty or compromised equipment within military systems in the past.

ChainShield is intended to document and raise alarms before a mission fails.

“We have to ensure that they[products and parts] are safe, that they work, that they are not obsolete. That they are not counterfeit and that they are not reporting proprietary data and information back to foreign bad actors. Not only can they steal information but use it to defeat whatever we are making,” said Town.

Gray Analytics says ChainShield can be formatted for specific areas within the national security space. Potentially even in commercial supply chains.