General Dynamics Canada and Secure Computing Safeguard Combat Communications with Mobile Firewall

MESHnet Firewall Protects Confidential Military Field Communications against Cyber-based Attacks

General Dynamics Canada and Secure Computing Corporation today announced the availability of the MESHnet Firewall for use in battlefield vehicles. MESHnet features Secure Computing’s first Evaluation Assurance Level 4 (EAL4) common-criteria-certified firewall ruggedized to Military Standard 810. It can be seen in the General Dynamics booth at the Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi) conference in London, England, 11-14 September.

“The confidentiality of communications between armoured vehicles is crucial to soldiers’ safety and the success of their mission,” said Rick Bracken, project manager, General Dynamics Canada. “The MESHnet Firewall consolidates all major Internet functions into one, creating best-of-breed protection. In addition, its conduction-cooled chassis and uninterrupted performance in harsh military environments make it ideal for mounted and dismounted military platforms.”

Network-centric operations require data to be shared between brigades, coalitions and even civil authorities. Advanced application-layer firewalls successfully protect networks by monitoring data flow to ensure only authorized data is exchanged, and to detect and prevent intrusion attempts and viruses embedded in data flow. In tactical environments, the exchange of sensitive, classified data is essential, making the need for firewalls even more pronounced as military networks need to be fully protected to prevent security breaches.

Developed by General Dynamics Canada, the MESHnet Firewall is a conduction-cooled platform running Secure Computing’s Sidewinder® Firewall. Secure Computing Corporation is a leading enterprise gateway security company and its Sidewinder Software provides the following essential features necessary for this type of deployment:

- Unequalled CERT advisory record and zero emergency security patches during its 11+ year life set it apart from all other enterprise firewalls on both a cost of ownership and security standpoint.

- Provides the performance, scalability and network protection needed by units deployed on the tactical mobile battlefield.

- Contains application-layer protection that enforces a positive security model to protect against threats contained at the application level versus just the network level (70 percent of all attacks occur at the application layer today).

- Contains intrusion prevention capability (IPS) as well as integration with the TrustedSource™ global reputation system to provide proactive protection from known and unknown (zero-hour) threats.

These major capabilities make Sidewinder extremely popular in high-security deployments like those of military and government agencies around the world.

The MESHnet Firewall is available through General Dynamics. A press briefing on the firewall will be held by General Dynamics Canada at the Platinum Room 6 Media Centre at DSEi on Tuesday, 11 September, 1430.