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US DoD COTS snafu
Network Security
February
7 997
business people questioned Visa International is to launch a pilot project with 38 banks across 16 countries to test a system which it hopes will make the Internet secure for trading. The company believes that people are correct to be concerned about the security of electronic commerce at present, but by the end of the year their worries should be groundless. One third of the respondents felt that the Internet should be regulated.
US DOD COTS snafu In the US the end of the Cold War has led the military to switch drastically away from specialist ‘gold plated’ component towards procurement ‘Commercial Off-the Shelf’ or COTS, This promises much in the way of economies but so far has had a mixed success. Recently a number of major US component suppliers have been exiting this business sector. For example, Texas Instruments which sold its defence components business to Raytheon. Intel too has announced notice on its mil-spec products - some 200 products and foregoing participation in a sector deemed to still be worth over a billion dollars annually. At a recent US conference, the US Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association seemed to be having second thoughts about COTS. In particular about tactical communications and computer networking Delegates were software concerned about certification of software and its reliability plus an overall downward trend in technological innovation. This is becoming more acute as the supplier emphasis switches away
4
from defence to purely commercial matters. Moreover, there is a big worry that with so many leaving the market the opportunities for effective cost competition will shrink. One official from the NSA pointed out the pitfalls of the COTS approach. There are reservations about software security and how this affects the spread of software for commercial use. The NSA is very careful about its software development work especially the code used in tactical intelligence operational for networks deployment. There have been grand-scale mergers and buy-outs underway in North America as the defence in consolidates industry preparation for the next century of warfare. In due course the hesitant start made by European defence corporations will have to follow suit in order to compete. Worldwide, the move towards COTS is going to continue to cause much head scratching and crystal ball gazing. Indeed this must actually be so. The future security of the western world depends on it. Roy Szweda
Exploit intranets without compromising security According to a report in Computer Weekly, Security Dynamics has announced it is to incorporate its security token technology with encryption technology in an attempt to give corporate users better protection. It is the aim of the new systems to let users exploit intranets without compromising security. According to Security Dynamic’s marketing vice-president, the area where most companies are vulnerable is remote access. “Most companies are not using two-factor authentication for their remote access users. A lot of companies do not pay attention to security until they have an incident. We’re aware of a major credit card company which had a huge number of credit card numbers on a laptop, which when they lost it left them with an estimated liability of $56 million.” Power warns of the need for users to adopt more secure passwords.
01997
Elsevier Science Ltd
February
7 997
business people questioned Visa International is to launch a pilot project with 38 banks across 16 countries to test a system which it hopes will make the Internet secure for trading. The company believes that people are correct to be concerned about the security of electronic commerce at present, but by the end of the year their worries should be groundless. One third of the respondents felt that the Internet should be regulated.
US DOD COTS snafu In the US the end of the Cold War has led the military to switch drastically away from specialist ‘gold plated’ component towards procurement ‘Commercial Off-the Shelf’ or COTS, This promises much in the way of economies but so far has had a mixed success. Recently a number of major US component suppliers have been exiting this business sector. For example, Texas Instruments which sold its defence components business to Raytheon. Intel too has announced notice on its mil-spec products - some 200 products and foregoing participation in a sector deemed to still be worth over a billion dollars annually. At a recent US conference, the US Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association seemed to be having second thoughts about COTS. In particular about tactical communications and computer networking Delegates were software concerned about certification of software and its reliability plus an overall downward trend in technological innovation. This is becoming more acute as the supplier emphasis switches away
4
from defence to purely commercial matters. Moreover, there is a big worry that with so many leaving the market the opportunities for effective cost competition will shrink. One official from the NSA pointed out the pitfalls of the COTS approach. There are reservations about software security and how this affects the spread of software for commercial use. The NSA is very careful about its software development work especially the code used in tactical intelligence operational for networks deployment. There have been grand-scale mergers and buy-outs underway in North America as the defence in consolidates industry preparation for the next century of warfare. In due course the hesitant start made by European defence corporations will have to follow suit in order to compete. Worldwide, the move towards COTS is going to continue to cause much head scratching and crystal ball gazing. Indeed this must actually be so. The future security of the western world depends on it. Roy Szweda
Exploit intranets without compromising security According to a report in Computer Weekly, Security Dynamics has announced it is to incorporate its security token technology with encryption technology in an attempt to give corporate users better protection. It is the aim of the new systems to let users exploit intranets without compromising security. According to Security Dynamic’s marketing vice-president, the area where most companies are vulnerable is remote access. “Most companies are not using two-factor authentication for their remote access users. A lot of companies do not pay attention to security until they have an incident. We’re aware of a major credit card company which had a huge number of credit card numbers on a laptop, which when they lost it left them with an estimated liability of $56 million.” Power warns of the need for users to adopt more secure passwords.
01997
Elsevier Science Ltd