EXPERT SYSTEM TOOL FOR MULTI-LEVEL SECURITY FOR CSS TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

OUR PROPOSAL DESCRIBES AN INNOVATIVE ANALYSIS TOOL FOR DESIGN OF TRUSTED COMSEC ARCHITECTURES FOR THE NAVY'S COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT SYSTEM (CSS) MULTI-MEDIA NETWORK. OUR RESEARCH RESPONDS TO WELLRECOGNIZED NAVY CONCERNS REGARDING COMSEC ARCHITECTURE FOR CSS. (FOR INSTANCE, SEE SECTION 2.3.6, COMSEC ARCHITECTURE, OF "COMMUNICATION SUPPORT SYSTEM (CSS) INTEGRATED SATCOM", NAVSPAWAR, PD 50.) WE PROPOSE AN EXPERT SYSTEM MODELING CSS ARCHITECTURE AT USER EQUIPMENT, INTERFACE UNIT, PLATFORM LAN, LINK AND MULTI-NETWORK CONTROLLER, RED AND BLACK RADIO ROOM, AND RF MEDIA LEVELS, AND THE SECURITY ATTRIBUTES OF THEIR HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, AND INTERCONNECTION ELEMENTS. THE TOOL USES SECURITY RULES DERIVED FROM THE NATIONAL COMPUTER SECURITY CENTER "RED BOOK" TO DETERMINE THE SECURITY STATUS OF THE ARCHITECTURE. USING RULE PROCESSING WE CAN AUTOMATICALLY ASSIGN SECURITY ATTRIBUTES TO NETWORK ELEMENTS AND AID IN CERTIFICATION OR OPTIMIZATION. OUR PROPOSAL IS BASED ON A VIA-SAT IRAD PROTOTYPE MULTI-LEVEL SECURE NETWORKING EXPERT SYSTEM. IT IMPLEMENTS THE KNOWLEDGE-BASE AND SOME SECURITY RULES TO DEMONSTRATE FEASIBILITY OF THE CONCEPT. OUR PROPOSAL DESCRIBES A PHASE I CONTRACT TO EXTEND THE CAPABILITIES OF OUR IRAD TOOL, TAILORING THE KNOWLEDGE AND RULE BASE MODELS FOR CSS. DELIVERABLES FOR PHASE I INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MODELS AND A SOFTWARE DEMONSTRATION.