Blacker (styled BLACKER) is a
U.S. Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
computer
network security
Network security consists of the policies, processes and practices adopted to prevent, detect and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources. Network security involves th ...
project designed to achieve A1 class ratings (very high assurance) of the Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (
TCSEC
Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (TCSEC) is a United States Government Department of Defense (DoD) standard that sets basic requirements for assessing the effectiveness of computer security controls built into a computer system. The TCS ...
).
The first Blacker program began in the late 1970s, with a follow-on eventually producing fielded devices in the late 1980s.
It was the first secure system with trusted
end-to-end encryption
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a system of communication where only the communicating users can read the messages. In principle, it prevents potential eavesdroppers – including telecommunications service providers, telecom providers, Internet ...
on the United States'
Defense Data Network The Defense Data Network (DDN) was a computer networking effort of the United States Department of Defense from 1983 through 1995. It was based on ARPANET technology.
History
As an experiment, from 1971 to 1977, the Worldwide Military Command an ...
.
The project was implemented by
SDC (software) and
Burroughs (hardware), and after their merger, by the resultant company
Unisys
Unisys Corporation is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. It provides digital workplace solutions, cloud, applications, and infrastructure solutions, ...
.
See also
*
RED/BLACK concept for segregation of sensitive ''plaintext'' information (RED signals) from ''encrypted'' ciphertext (BLACK signals)
References
Computer network security
Computer security standards
Cryptography
Secure communication
Security engineering
Trusted computing
United States Department of Defense information technology
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