Secure Open Architecture Open System Technologies for Tactical Networks

Currently Submarines process data at three distinct classification levels, S, TS, SCI. The network is currently based on a floating “periods processing” model that assumes the entire network is classified at the same level and can only float upwards based on the current mission (i.e. S->TS or SCI). Once the classification level has been increased, there is no way to declassify existing material (that really should be Secret) unless it was either stored on Read Only media prior to the transition or unless it goes through a complicated data guarding process. This model is fundamentally flawed and was designed based on legacy hardware and available resources. The goal of this SBIR is to develop technologies that will segregate data of various security classification levels using approved hardware and software techniques and simplify the data access and usage for the sailors. This effort is designed to increase the productivity of the user by removing or automating the barriers currently involved with accessing data at different classification levels simultaneously. This proposal will describe a series of solutions based on Trusted Operating Systems, Centralized Data Storage, and Cloud Computing architectures that will result in a novel data & usage model with greater transparency to the users.