HIGH ASSURANCE MULTILEVEL-SECURE WORKSTATIONS AND PERSONAL COMPUTERS WITH ENCRYPTION AND NETWORK SUPPORTS

HIGH ASSURANCE MLS WORKSTATIONS/PCS CAN BE DEVELOPED BY PORTING A B3 OR AL TRUSTED COMPUTING BASE (TCB) TO A COMMERCIAL WORKSTATION OR PC HARDWARE, AND PORTING A COMMERCIAL MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE APPLICATION TO THE TCB. THE B3/AL GEMSOS (GEMINI MULTIPROCESSING SECURE OPERATING SYSTEM) SECURITY KERNEL IS USED AS THE UNDERLYING TCB FOUNDATION IN COMPLIANCE WITH DOD STANDARD 5200.28-STD FOR COMPUTER SECURITY. GUIDELINES FOR INCREMENTALLY BUILDING MLS WORKSTATION/PC APPLICATIONS ON THE GEMSOS ARE BEING DEVELOPED USING THREE INTERFACES: GEMSOS, SECURE DOS AND SECURE UNIX. THE INTEGRATED DES ENCYPTION WILL BE USED TO SUPPORT THE "MANDATORY CRYPTOGRAPHIC SIGNATURE" TECHNIQUE RECOMMENDED BY THE "SDI/NTB INFOSEC SECURITY STRATEGY" TO CONTROL THE VIRUS PROBLEM. TO PROVIDE CENTRALIZED SECURITY MANAGEMENT IN A DISTRIBUTED SECURE WORKSTATION/PC SYSTEM, ANADAPTATION OF GEMSOS TO SUPPORT SECURE NETWORK CAPABILITIES IS BEING DEVELOPED IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE "TRUSTED NETWORK INTERPRETATION" (RED BOOK). IN A LATER EFFORT, A PROTOTYPE MLS WORKSTATION/PC WILL BE DEVELOPED WITH SECURE OFFICE AUTOMATION APPLICATIONS AND SECURE NETWORK CAPABILITIES. MANY COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS MUST ALSO PROTECT THEIR SENSITIVE DATA AGAINST MALICIOUS SOFTWARE ATTACKS. THEIR SECURITY POLICIES MAY BE SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF DEFENSE APPLICATIONS. FOR EXAMPLE, INTEGRITY MAY BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN CONFIDENTIALITY IN SOME CASES. THE SAME GENERIC APPROACH FOR THE INCREMENTAL DEVELOPMENT OF SECURE APPLICATIONS ON THE GEMSOS TCB COULD BE ADAPTED TO SATISFY THE COMMERCIAL SECURITY REQUIREMENTS.