|
|
|
|
![1105 Media [justice]](/images/ds1_pntmlogo.gif "1105 Media [justice]") |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
home > November/December, 2007 issue > article
Vendors team to deliver battle-ready firewall
By Brian Robinson
Special to Defense Systems
There’s nothing new about using firewalls to secure communications networks, but their role in network-centric warfare, in which messages may be swapped among militaries from different countries, can be more complicated.
A partnership between General Dynamics Canada and Secure Computing that marries Secure’s Sidewinder firewall with General Dynamics’ conduction-cooled military-standard chassis seeks to get around those battlefield problems.
The MESHnet Firewall provides application-layer protection along with intrusion-prevention capability. It is based on Secure’s first-ever Evaluation Assurance Level 4, Common Criteria-certified firewall that’s ruggedized to the requirements of Mil-Std 810.
That level of protection will be needed on the net-centric battlefield as the need to share real-time data among forces is driven down to the warfighter in the field, said Scott Montgomery, Secure’s vice president of product marketing.
To facilitate communications on the net-centric battlefield, militaries worldwide are looking to create data stovepipes, Montgomery said.
“That will actually allow joint coalition forces,” he said. “Imagine there’s a coalition of United Nations forces fighting where there could be units from different countries fighting together. They need to share battlefield data in real time, but the individual forces [represented on the battlefield] also have data they want to protect and not share.”
Ground support networks would have the protections to allow this, but they aren’t available in battlefield vehicles. That’s a major reason mixed forces do not share combat data, he said.
However, everyone recognizes that sharing data would extend the capabilities of the ground support network to the mobile forces in the field.
The MESHnet firewall provides protection by allowing separate forces to set rules for different networks. They can also decide who can access particular data, said Rick Bracken, project manager at General Dynamics Canada.
The MESHnet firewall is based on commercial versions of both the software and chassis, which should provide advantages, Bracken and Montgomery said.
For example, the chassis can accept upgrades to commercial processors as they are produced, and it can also hold military-specific circuit boards if necessary.
It can also take advantage of the global intelligence that software companies such as Secure Computing have had to build to do business worldwide, Montgomery said.
“The nature of cyberwarfare has changed a great deal, and the amount of state-sponsored attacks has never been greater,” he said. “Countries such as China have limitless resources and are technically very sophisticated, so companies are looking at such things as the reputation of country service connections to try and counter attacks.”
The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence is the first customer for MESHnet, Bracken said.
Various trials have been conducted with other Western countries and multicountry organizations, and there have been discussions that include a number of U.S. military organizations.
Sales of MESHnet are being handled through General Dynamics Canada, he said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
