|
Electronic Key Management System
The Electronic Key Management System (EKMS) is a United States National Security Agency led program responsible for Communications Security ( COMSEC) key management, accounting, and distribution. Specifically, EKMS generates and distributes electronic key material for all NSA encryption system whose keys are loaded using standard fill devices, and directs the distribution of NSA produced key material. Additionally, EKMS performs account registration, privilege management, ordering, distribution, and accounting to direct the management and distribution of physical COMSEC material for the services. The common EKMS components and standards facilitate interoperability and commonality among the armed services and civilian agencies. Reasons for development The primary reason for the development of EKMS centers on the security and logistics problems that plagued the COMSEC Material Control System (CMCS),{{cite web, url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a271771.pdf , archive-url ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for foreign and domestic intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, specializing in a discipline known as signals intelligence (SIGINT). The NSA is also tasked with the protection of U.S. communications networks and information systems. The NSA relies on a variety of measures to accomplish its mission, the majority of which are clandestine. The existence of the NSA was not revealed until 1975. The NSA has roughly 32,000 employees. Originating as a unit to decipher coded communications in World War II, it was officially formed as the NSA by President Harry S. Truman in 1952. Between then and the end of the Cold War, it became the largest of the U.S. intelligence organizations in terms of pers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FIREFLY
The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production of light, mainly during twilight, to attract mates. Light production in the Lampyridae is thought to have originated as an honest warning signal that the larvae were distasteful; this was co-opted in evolution as a mating signal in the adults. In a further development, female fireflies of the genus ''Photuris'' mimic the flash pattern of ''Photinus'' species to trap their males as prey. Fireflies are found in temperate and tropical climates. Many live in marshes or in wet, wooded areas where their larvae have abundant sources of food. While all known fireflies glow as larvae, only some species produce light in their adult stage, and the location of the light organ varies among species and between sexes of the same species. Fireflies ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AN/CYZ-10
A fill device or key loader is a module used to load cryptographic keys into electronic encryption machines. Fill devices are usually hand held and electronic ones are battery operated. Older mechanical encryption systems, such as rotor machines, were keyed by setting the positions of wheels and plugs from a printed keying list. Electronic systems required some way to load the necessary cryptovariable data. In the 1950s and 1960s, systems such as the U.S. National Security Agency KW-26 and the Soviet Union's Fialka used punched cards for this purpose. Later NSA encryption systems incorporated a serial port fill connector and developed several common fill devices (CFDs) that could be used with multiple systems. A CFD was plugged in when new keys were to be loaded. Newer NSA systems allow " over the air rekeying" (OTAR), but a master key often must still be loaded using a fill device. NSA uses two serial protocols for key fill, DS-101 and DS-102. Both employ the same U-229 6-pi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
KYK-13
The KYK-13 Electronic Transfer Device is a common fill device designed by the United States National Security Agency for the transfer and loading of cryptographic keys with their corresponding check word. The KYK-13 is battery powered and uses the DS-102 protocol for key transfer. Its National Stock Number A NATO Stock Number, or National Stock Number (NSN) as it is known in the US, is a 13-digit numeric code used by the NATO military alliance, identifying all the 'standardized material items of supply' as they have been recognized by all member s ... is 5810-01-026-9618. Even though the KYK-13 was first introduced in 1976 and was supposed to have been obsoleted by the AN/CYZ-10 Data Transfer Device, it is still widely used because of its simplicity and reliability. A simpler device than the CYZ-10, the KIK-30 "Really Simple Key loader" (RASKL) is now planned to replace the KYK-13s, with up to $200 million budgeted to procure them in quantity. Components * P1 and J1 Connec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fill Device
A fill device or key loader is a module used to load cryptographic keys into electronic encryption machines. Fill devices are usually hand held and electronic ones are battery operated. Older mechanical encryption systems, such as rotor machines, were keyed by setting the positions of wheels and plugs from a printed keying list. Electronic systems required some way to load the necessary cryptovariable data. In the 1950s and 1960s, systems such as the U.S. National Security Agency KW-26 and the Soviet Union's Fialka used punched cards for this purpose. Later NSA encryption systems incorporated a serial port fill connector and developed several common fill devices (CFDs) that could be used with multiple systems. A CFD was plugged in when new keys were to be loaded. Newer NSA systems allow " over the air rekeying" (OTAR), but a master key often must still be loaded using a fill device. NSA uses two serial protocols for key fill, DS-101 and DS-102. Both employ the same U-229 6-pi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decipher a ciphertext back to plaintext and access the original information. Encryption does not itself prevent interference but denies the intelligible content to a would-be interceptor. For technical reasons, an encryption scheme usually uses a pseudo-random encryption key generated by an algorithm. It is possible to decrypt the message without possessing the key but, for a well-designed encryption scheme, considerable computational resources and skills are required. An authorized recipient can easily decrypt the message with the key provided by the originator to recipients but not to unauthorized users. Historically, various forms of encryption have been used to aid in cryptography. Early encryption techniques were often used in military ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trusted System
In the security engineering subspecialty of computer science, a trusted system is one that is relied upon to a specified extent to enforce a specified security policy. This is equivalent to saying that a trusted system is one whose failure would break a security policy (if a policy exists that the system is trusted to enforce). The word "trust" is critical, as it does not carry the meaning that might be expected in everyday usage. A trusted system is one that the user feels safe to use, and trusts to perform tasks without secretly executing harmful or unauthorized programs; trusted computing refers to whether programs can trust the platform to be unmodified from the expected, and whether or not those programs are innocent or malicious or whether they execute tasks that are undesired by the user. A trusted system can also be seen as a level-based security system where protection is provided and handled according to different levels. This is commonly found in the military, where info ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unix
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and others. Initially intended for use inside the Bell System, AT&T licensed Unix to outside parties in the late 1970s, leading to a variety of both academic and commercial Unix variants from vendors including University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley Software Distribution, BSD), Microsoft (Xenix), Sun Microsystems (SunOS/Solaris (operating system), Solaris), Hewlett-Packard, HP/Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HPE (HP-UX), and IBM (IBM AIX, AIX). In the early 1990s, AT&T sold its rights in Unix to Novell, which then sold the UNIX trademark to The Open Group, an industry consortium founded in 1996. The Open Group allows the use of the mark for certified operating systems that comply with the Single UNIX Specification (SUS). Unix systems are chara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa Cruz Operation
The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (usually known as SCO, pronounced either as individual letters or as a word) was an American software company, based in Santa Cruz, California, that was best known for selling three Unix operating system variants for Intel x86 processors: Xenix, SCO UNIX (later known as SCO OpenDesktop and SCO OpenServer), and UnixWare. SCO was founded in 1979 by Larry Michels and his son Doug Michels and began as a consulting and Unix porting company. An early involvement with Microsoft led to SCO making a product out of Xenix on Intel-based PCs. The fundamental insight that led to SCO's success was that there was a large market for a standard, "open systems" operating system on commodity microprocessor hardware that would give business applications computing power and throughput that previously was only possible with considerably more expensive minicomputers. SCO built a large community of value-added resellers that would eventually become 15,000 strong and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Personal Computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or technician. Unlike large, costly minicomputers and mainframes, time-sharing by many people at the same time is not used with personal computers. Primarily in the late 1970s and 1980s, the term home computer was also used. Institutional or corporate computer owners in the 1960s had to write their own programs to do any useful work with the machines. While personal computer users may develop their own applications, usually these systems run commercial software, free-of-charge software ("freeware"), which is most often proprietary, or free and open-source software, which is provided in "ready-to-run", or binary, form. Software for personal computers is typically developed and distributed independently from the hardware or operating system ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Applications International Corporation
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Inc. is an American technology company headquartered in Reston, Virginia that provides government services and information technology support. History The original SAIC was created in 1969 by J. Robert Beyster. Then on September 27, 2013, it spun off a $4 billion unit which retained its name, while the parent company changed its name to Leidos. Following the split, Anthony J. Moraco was appointed CEO of SAIC, and John P. Jumper was appointed CEO of Leidos. The primary motivation for the spinoff was the conflicts of interest provisions in the Federal Acquisition Regulation which prevented the company from bidding on some new contracts because of existing contracts. On May 4, 2015, SAIC acquired Scitor Holdings, Inc. for $790 million to expand their presence in the intelligence industry through classified contracts, cleared personnel, and a robust security infrastructure. Scitor was previously owned by Leonard G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
