27 July 16. The National Security Agency has certified Raytheon Company’s (NYSE: RTN) KG-350 Ethernet encryption system to protect network communications for sensitive information up to Top Secret/SCI classification. The Type 1 certification gives Raytheon authorization to sell the groundbreaking KG-350 encryptor to commercial, military and government customers immediately.
The KG-350 expands Raytheon’s leadership in the Layer 2 Ethernet encryption market, offering lower latency and higher throughput than current encryption technology.
“Raytheon’s KG-350 provides the world’s fastest, highest-capacity networking system for secure communications,” said John Droge, director of Raytheon Secure Information Systems. “Layer 2 encryption preserves bandwidth – increasing information throughput up to 45 percent – and enables uninterrupted real-time data, voice and video.”
The KG-350 encryptor is ruggedized for tactical vehicle use and fixed-site applications, and is the first to conform to the NSA’s new Ethernet Security Specification (ESS) standard.
“The advantage of ESS compliance is that ESS encryptors are interoperable with one another, which means keeping pace with growing networking needs simply requires adding new encryptors rather than replacing entire networks,” Droge said.
To accommodate the broadest range of current and future network requirements, the KG-350 operates in three speeds — 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps. A single KG-350 unit can ensure uninterrupted communications across far larger networks than previous technology in point-to-point, mesh and point-to-multi-point environments.
“As network data speeds keep increasing, so does the need for lower latency networking systems,” said Paul Pittelli, NSA Deputy Director, Trusted Engineering Solutions. “That’s where Layer 2 encryption comes in – it allows network administrators to achieve higher and higher degrees of throughput while efficiently protecting user data.”
With the NSA’s certification of its Layer 2 Ethernet encryptors, Raytheon has begun filling its backlog of product orders. The KG-350 is available for sale through Government IDIQ contracts or via direct purchase from Raytheon.
21 Jul 16. Russia Claims ‘Increase in Cyberattacks by West Spies.’ Just as Western governments are concerned about Chinese or Russian state hackers, the Kremlin worries that its government agencies are under increasing western attack, and is concerned about skill shortages in government.
There has been a significant increase in the number of cyber-attacks conducted by foreign special services on web-servers at Russian state bodies and critical infrastructure since the beginning of the current year, according to recent statements by Nikolai Patrushev, a Secretary of the Russian Security Council, (a consultative body that formulates the Russian President’s policies on national security issues).
According to Patrushev, despite repeated warnings to desist, the majority of Russian officials continue to use Western IT-services in their work, a practice which is claimed to be associated with a high threat of information leakage and which opens up the possibility of a remote blockade of their work from abroad.
Patrushev adds that the level of knowledge, skills and abilities of officials responsible for IT security in the Russian state bodies remains poor, with only six percent having specifically studied information security.
Since the beginning of the current year Russian state agencies and bodies have suffered more than 10 m cyber-attacks.
An example was an attack on the web-server of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, (at the end of last year), which resulted in denial of service lasting several hours on the Kremlin’s web-servers. Dmitry Peskov, an official spokesman of Russia’s President, told SCmagazineUK.com that the attack was conducted from abroad and was organised with the participation of the special services of some foreign states. Other details were not disclosed.
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