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Communications Security
Communications security is the discipline of preventing unauthorized interceptors from accessing telecommunications in an intelligible form, while still delivering content to the intended recipients. In the North Atlantic Treaty Organization culture, including United States Department of Defense culture, it is often referred to by the abbreviation COMSEC. The field includes cryptographic security, transmission security, emissions security and physical security of COMSEC equipment and associated keying material. COMSEC is used to protect both classified and unclassified traffic on military communications networks, including voice, video, and data. It is used for both analog and digital applications, and both wired and wireless links. Voice over secure internet protocol VOSIP has become the de facto standard for securing voice communication, replacing the need for Secure Terminal Equipment (STE) in much of NATO, including the U.S.A. USCENTCOM moved entirely to VOSIP i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frequency Hopping
Frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) is a method of transmitting radio signals by rapidly changing the carrier frequency among many frequencies occupying a large spectral band. The changes are controlled by a code known to both transmitter and receiver. FHSS is used to avoid interference, to prevent eavesdropping, and to enable code-division multiple access (CDMA) communications. The frequency band is divided into smaller sub-bands. Signals rapidly change ("hop") their carrier frequencies among the center frequencies of these sub-bands in a determined order. Interference at a specific frequency will affect the signal only during a short interval. FHSS offers four main advantages over a fixed-frequency transmission: # FHSS signals are highly resistant to narrowband interference because the signal hops to a different frequency band. # Signals are difficult to intercept if the frequency-hopping pattern is not known. # Jamming is also difficult if the pattern is unknown; the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptographic
Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or '' -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. More generally, cryptography is about constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third parties or the public from reading private messages. Modern cryptography exists at the intersection of the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, information security, electrical engineering, digital signal processing, physics, and others. Core concepts related to information security ( data confidentiality, data integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation) are also central to cryptography. Practical applications of cryptography include electronic commerce, chip-based payment cards, digital currencies, computer passwords, and military communications. Cryptography prior to the modern age was effectively synonymous with encryption, convert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
STU-III
STU-III (Secure Telephone Unit - third generation) is a family of secure telephones introduced in 1987 by the NSA for use by the United States government, its contractors, and its allies. STU-III desk units look much like typical office telephones, plug into a standard telephone wall jack and can make calls to any ordinary phone user (with such calls receiving no special protection, however). When a call is placed to another STU-III unit that is properly set up, one caller can ask the other to initiate secure transmission. They then press a button on their telephones and, after a 15-second delay, their call is encrypted to prevent eavesdropping. There are portable and militarized versions and most STU-IIIs contained an internal modem and RS-232 port for data and fax transmission. Vendors were AT&T (later transferred to Lucent Technologies), RCA (now L-3 Communications, East) and Motorola. STU-III are no longer in service with the U.S. Government, with the last cryptographic ke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Two Person Integrity
The two-person rule is a control mechanism designed to achieve a high level of security for especially critical material or operations. Under this rule, access and actions require the presence of two or more authorized people at all times. United States: nuclear weapons Per US Air Force Instruction (AFI) 91-104, "the two-person concept" is designed to prevent accidental or malicious launch of nuclear weapons by a single individual. In the case of Minuteman missile launch crews, once a launch order is received, both operators must agree that it is valid by comparing the authorization code in the order against a ''Sealed Authenticator'' (a special sealed envelope containing a verification code). These Sealed Authenticators are stored in a safe which has two separate locks. Each operator has the key to only one lock, so neither can open the safe alone. Also, each operator has one of two launch keys; once the order is verified, they must insert the keys in slots on the control panel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AN/PYQ-10
The AN/PYQ-10 Simple Key Loader (SKL) is a ruggedized, portable, hand-held fill device, for securely receiving, storing, and transferring data between compatible cryptographic and communications equipment. The SKL was designed and built by Ralph Osterhout and then sold to Sierra Nevada Corporation, with software developed by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) under the auspices of the United States Army. It is intended to supplement and eventually replace the AN/CYZ-10 Data Transfer Device (DTD). The PYQ-10 provides all the functions currently resident in the CYZ-10 and incorporates new features that provide streamlined management of COMSEC key, Electronic Protection (EP) data, and Signal Operating Instructions (SOI). Cryptographic functions are performed by an embedded KOV-21 card developed by the National Security Agency (NSA). The AN/PYQ-10 supports both the DS-101 and DS-102 interfaces, as well as the KSD-64 Crypto Ignition Key. The SKL is backward-compa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Signal Operating Instructions
Signal operating instructions (SOI) or Communications-Electronics Operation Instructions (CEOI) are U.S. military terms for a type of combat order issued for the technical control and coordination of communications within a command. They include current and up-to-date information covering radio call signs and frequencies, a telephone directory, code-words (for rudimentary encryption), and visual and sound signals. A designated battalion signal officer prepares the battalion SOI in conformance with the SOI of higher headquarters. During operations, SOI are changed daily. Since the fielding of the SINCGARS system, however, the paper SOI has generally faded from Army use. Electronic SOI are now generated, distributed and loaded along with cryptographic keys A key in cryptography is a piece of information, usually a string of numbers or letters that are stored in a file, which, when processed through a cryptographic algorithm, can encode or decode cryptographic data. Based on the used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
KOI-18
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 U.S., 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 ... is 5810-01-026-9618. Even though the KYK-13 was first introduced in 1976 and was supposed to have been made obsolete 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-13, with up to $200 million budgeted to procure them in quantity. Components * P1 and J1 C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Over The Air Rekeying
Over-the-air rekeying (OTAR) refers to transmitting or updating encryption keys (rekeying) in secure information systems by conveying the keys via encrypted electronic communication channels ("over the air"). It is also referred to as over-the-air transfer (OTAT), or over-the-air distribution (OTAD), depending on the specific type, use, and transmission means of the key being changed. Although the acronym refers specifically to radio transmission, the technology is also employed via wire, cable, or optical fiber. As a "paperless encryption key system" OTAR was originally adopted specifically in support of high speed data communications because previously known "paperless key" systems such as supported by Diffie-Hellman key exchange, or Firefly key exchange technology (as used in the now obsolete STU-III "scrambled" telephone) were not capable of handling the high speed transmission volumes required by normal governmental/military communications traffic. Now also adopted for civil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Encryption
In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Despite its goal, 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 (cryptography), 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
