NSA, IBM and General Dynamics and classified data

Posted by Ken Y-N on March 16th, 2008 at 03:01pm

This article mentions the TCG only at the very end, but I thought this was an interesting develoment worthy of reporting.

The current issue for intelligence analysts is that to maintain security between multiple tasks and networks and to prevent data leakage, they need one computer per network, filling up their desks with vast quantities of hardware. So, what General Dynamics and IBM have been working on with the USA’s National Security Agency is to design a single secure computer that can work on multiple classified networks. The article says:

Using secure virtualization, the platform will create a designated space on a workstation, server or personal digital assistant, Simard said. Analysts will access that space by entering unique IDs and passwords, and then they can view and share documents with different security classifications. They will no longer need to change hard drives or maintain multiple computers to switch from one security domain to another.

One other target of this project is not just to roll it out to other government departments, but even to commercialise the technology. The platform is currently going through security clearance, and should be ready by the second quarter of 2008.

They are also working with the Trusted Computing Group to ensure that everything is all standard-compliant. In addition, VMWare Inc, Trusted Computer Solutions Inc, Harris Corp and Innovative Security Systems/Argus Systems Group are partnered with the two main developers.

The full article may be read on Washington Technology.

Tags: general dynamics, ibm, nsa

Under TCG Tags: general dynamics, ibm, nsa