Major European Fleet Implements Nexor's High Assurance Messaging Guard

The Challenge

Working on behalf of a major European Fleet, a leading System Integrator (SI) has been working with Nexor for more than five years, implementing MMHSs (Military Message Handling System) across varied platforms, on numerous different naval vessels and adhering to the ever-changing NATO standards and interoperability challenges. Implemented on more than 10 ships, the solution, which spans both Red and Black domains, is now proven, stable and easily replicated onto new vessels joining the MMHS network. The system incorporates five of Nexor’s STANAG 4406- compliant products, namely, Nexor’s Mailer, P7 Messagestore Server, Distribution List Manager, Directory and Defender for Outlook.

With a successful MMHS solution in place, the SI turned its attention to the border of the environment and the need for a high assurance border protection device. One of the requirements of this device was to be able to support multiple domains running different classifications: Secret and Confidential from a single high assurance messaging guard. Each of the domains was also running with differing versions of STANAG 4406 labelling; therefore the guard needed to be able to protect differing label formats. Separate LANs (Local Area Networks) were to be used for each classification and the device had to be highly configurable and evaluated to common criteria EAL 4 or above.

The Nexor Solution

Nexor provided its Nexor Sentinel high assurance mail guard, a hardware and software border appliance designed to enforce system and site-specific security policies, governing the transfer of electronic messages between domains.

Running on high-performance servers and with Nexor’s Mailers at its core, Sentinel enables different military message handling system communities running on different classifications of network to come together in a unified messaging environment for military operations.

The Nexor Sentinel makes use of SPIF (Security Policy Information File) technology which allows organisational security labelling policies to be defined and stored electronically and applied by security applications. Nexor Sentinel checks the transport envelope, the security envelope and the message contents against information contained in the organisational SPIF and information in the messages themselves. As a trusted interface, it provides domain separation, a robust message filter between roles and users within a classified domain and roles or users outside it. Its core functionality is complemented by a secure audit trail and intuitive facilities for configuration and management.

Based on technology deployed in more than 650 systems worldwide, Nexor Sentinel conforms to:

• STANAG 4406 / ACP 123
• X.411 Message Transfer System
• X.420 Interpersonal Messaging System
• S/MIME Version 3
• RFC 2634 Enhanced Security Services for S/MIME
• SDN.801 Access Control Concept and Mechanisms
• PKCS#12 Personal Information Exchange Syntax Standard

Before implementing Nexor Sentinel in this environment, Nexor carried out a pre-implementation site survey. Nexor consultants were then on hand throughout the installation and configuration, their involvement culminating in the provision of training to transfer skills to the integrator to enable them to implement all future Sentinels, thus creating in-country expertise and maximising current and future Sentinel investments.

The Result

Nexor Sentinel was configured to support domain separation between the Secret and Confidential networks. By using a single device to achieve this, the customer was able to make considerable cost savings and was able to ensure optimum use of precious space on board their ships. By introducing Nexor Sentinel, security was enhanced as well as the ability to send and receive STANAG 4406 compliant messages both internally and externally to NATO and NATO Allies. This has been achieved primarily through the enforcement of:

• Confidentiality
• Integrity
• Originator and recipient authentication
• Access control
• Non-repudiation of origin with proof of receipt

Using Nexor Sentinel, the SI was able to simplify its solution architecture and enable the secure transfer of information between the ships two security domains, enabling more efficient on-board communications and facilitating high grade messaging between NATO allies.