Information Security and Trust in a Space Communications Network

Even though the issues of security and trust of sensitive information have existed for hundreds of years, the increasing reliance on computer networks to transmit sensitive information has brought these matters to the forefront of information security. The old methods of relying on trusted couriers and sealed envelopes are no longer sufficient for communicating over large networks where the integrity of communication paths cannot be assured. As such, numerous network security systems have been proposed to address these issues, but few have proven either effective or tractable, and fewer still have proven to be both. Leveraging its experience in information security and tamper resistance, Pikewerks proposes to develop an information security and trust system that is effective at preventing unauthorized access to sensitive information and is easy to use and integrate into existing environments, thereby lowering barriers of adoption. This security and trust system will advance the state-of-the-art in secure communication and remote attestation by integrating the two technologies into a semi-automated solution capable of encrypting sensitive information and ensuring trust of remote systems.