Thales Australia’s Cross Domain Solution (CDS) for secure network access is gaining increasing acceptance with customers, and promoting information sharing in mission critical environments.
The system has already been successfully installed on Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Sydney and achieved security accreditation.
A CDS design to suit the different requirements of an ANZAC class ship is currently close to completion, with installation planned to occur in the second half of this year.
Ideal for defence and national security users, the CDS supports organisations that require access to networks at different security levels.
With the CDS, users have simultaneous access to various security networks at discrete security classification levels, all through one computer terminal using a single network cable – effectively one box, one wire.
This represents a significant advantage over traditional systems, where separate terminals have been required to access different security networks – one terminal for Secret, another for Restricted, and so on.
Chris Jenkins, Thales Australia’s CEO, said there was increasing interest from the broader national security community in the technology.
“The CDS is attractive for a range of government users because it solves the problem of unwieldy and expensive separate terminals, simplifies the user experience, and saves space while reducing power consumption and hardware support costs,” he said.
“It’s easier to use and cheaper to run than existing setups, and gives organisations looking to promote information sharing while reducing costs a viable, resilient and low-risk option aligned with the strategy set out in the Commonwealth’s National Security Information Environment Roadmap.”
The CDS is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product that works using thin client technology and is compatible with existing operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and UNIX.
Each security network is securely separated from the others by the CDS operating system layer, which enforces a strong protection security policy to prevent cross-domain contamination.