Information Centric Security

The need exists for a technology that creates an information-centric security architecture that augments the current network-centric security posture moving protection to what is really important, the INFORMATION.The purpose of this effort is to (1) review previous government sponsored research on cryptographic key management solutions, (2) perform original research to extend the concepts previously considered, and (3) propose a model of an information centricsecurity (INFOCENSEC) solution. The primary focus of this effort is to investigate the feasibility of designing a new INFOCENSEC distributed key management architecture combining PKI with Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) methodology, based on ANSI X9.69.Key advantages to this approach include central control and management of identity and authorization credentials, allowing immediate addition, modification, or revocation of credentials. In high-risk situations (i.e., forward deployed warfighters or C2for HLS first responders), a trusted online revocation service could be accessed for every transaction; or credentials distributed by an online credential management service could have restricted lifetimes enabling information sharing in a peer-to-peermode when connectivity to a network is not available or denied. The INFOCENSEC approach, based on ANSI X9.69, provides a highly scalable and flexible cryptographic key management architecture that provides role-based access control at the object level enforcing need-to-know through cryptography. The benefits of theINFOCENSEC approach include: + A highly scalable distributed cryptographic key management solution would be immediately useful for obtaining information dominance among coalition forces. + The ability for multi-national coalition forces and HLS responders to securely and conveniently obtain and manage the credentials they require for sharing information across domains without increased management overhead. + Flexible key management architecture that supports both: o Central control and management of identity and authorization credentials, allowing immediate addition, modification, or revocation of credentials. o In high-risk situations (i.e., forward deployed warfighters and HLS responders), a trusted online revocation service could be accessed for every transaction; or credentials distributed by an online credential management service could have restrictedlifetimes enabling information sharing in a peer-to-peer mode when connectivity to a network is not available.InfoAssure visualizes three targeted commercialization opportunities in which this technology may be implemented to provide needed INFOCENSEC solutions including (1) data warehousing with XML tagging schema; (2) firmware implementation to be incorporatedinto a NIC devices; and (3) client server application for enterprise management of access to and use of shared information objects in enterprise applications such as collaboration or records/knowledge management.