Integrity and Authentication of Real-Time Data in Navy Combat Systems

Real-Time Innovations (RTI) proposes a set of Information Assurance extensions to the DDS standard and the RTI product that provide the necessary support for Authentication, Access Control, Confidentiality, Integrity, and Non-repudiation for all the real-time data sent over DDS. Our approach will enforce Mandatory Access Control (MAC) on all applications that join a DDS Global Data-Space, requiring them to be authenticated and have the necessary credentials. Beyond access to the DDS Global Data Space, our approach will provide fine-grain Role-Based (or more generally, policy-based) Access Control (RBAC) to specific DDS Topics and even to specific fields within DDS Topics. It will ensure confidentiality of the information (via encryption), integrity, pedigree, and non-repudiation (via digital signatures). Finally, we are proposing key innovations in the area of publish-subscribe one-to-many (multicast) distribution of encrypted information; these innovations will be critical to maintain the real-time QoS in the distribution of information to multiple subscribers. The proposed Security Architecture will be configurable via newly added QoS polices, while remaining open and extensible via"plug-in"APIs so that Navy or Navy Primes can integrate with pre-existing Identity Management Mechanisms, Access Control Policy repositories, or cryptographic libraries which might be program or project specific.