SECURE MULTILEVEL DATA BASE SYSTEM - DEMONSTRATION SCENARIOS - OCTOBER 1976

• NCJ Number: 57681
• Author(s): J L MACK; B N WAGNER
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 49 pages
• Contract Number(s): F19628-76-C--0001
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of the Air Force
• Corporate Author: US Dept of Defense; Mitre Corporation
• Sale Source: National Technical Information Service
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

APPLICATION SCENARIOS ARE DESCRIBED, ALONG WITH AN ASSESSMENT OF THEIR VALUE AND LIMITATIONS, TO SHOW THE USE OF SECURITY KERNEL TECHNOLOGY IN THE OPERATION OF A MULTILEVEL SECURE FILE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.

Abstract

THE AUTOMATED NEAR REAL-TIME HANDLING OF DATA FROM TACTICAL SENSORS REQUIRES CONCURRENT PROCESSING OF DATA OF VARIOUS CLASSIFICATION LEVELS. IN ORDER TO DEMONSTRATE THE SECURITY KERNEL TECHNOLOGY WHICH CAN MEET THIS NEED, A SECURE, MULTILEVEL, DATA BASE SYSTEM HAS BEEN DEVELOPED UNDER PROJECT 7070, SECURE MULTILEVEL DATA BASE. THE FOCUS OF THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SECURITY KERNEL-BASED SOFTWARE SYSTEM THAT WILL ALLOW USEFUL ACCESS TO A MULTILEVEL DATA BASE. ONE TASK OF THE PROJECT WAS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SCENARIO REQUIRING THE PROPOSED MULTILEVEL DATA BASE SYSTEM. THIS VOLUME DESCRIBES THESE SCENARIOS AND THEIR RESULTS. THE TEXT EDITING SCENARIO WAS DESIGNED TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE SYSTEM PROVIDES A CAPABILITY FOR BUILDING AND MODIFYING A STRUCTURED, MULTIPLE SECURITY-LEVEL DATA BASE TO SERVE USERS WITH DIFFERENT CLEARANCES AND NEED-TO-KNOW, WHILE CONSTRAINING EACH USER TO ACCESS OR MODIFY ONLY THAT DATA FOR WHICH HE IS SPECIFICALLY CLEARED AND AUTHORIZED. THE AIR SURVEILLANCE SCENARIO WAS DESIGNED TO PROVIDE A FICTIONAL SITUATION OF AN AIR SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL SYSTEM THAT MUST PERFORM DATA CORRELATION BETWEEN COMPARTMENTED AND COLLATERAL TRACK FILE DATA BASES, WHILE PROVIDING A CAPABILITY FOR PRECISELY CONTROLED TEMPORARY SELECTIVE DOWNGRADING USING CLEARED HUMAN INTERVENTION TO SUPPORT THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE FILES FOR FLIGHT SAFETY. WHILE PERFORMING THESE FUNCTIONS, THE SYSTEM MUST BE PROTECTED AGAINST SECURITY COMPROMISE. THE DEMONSTRATION SCENARIOS SHOWED THAT THE SECURITY KERNEL CAN: (1) SUPPORT A STRUCTURED DATA BASE SYSTEM, (2) PROTECT CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IN THE SYSTEM FROM ACCESS BY PERSONS AND PROCESSES NOT CLEARED, AND (3) IMPLEMENT A DOWNGRADING CAPABILITY WHICH IS PROPERLY RESPONSIVE TO THE JUDGMENT OF A CLEARED AND AUTHORIZED DOWNGRADING OFFICER. THE APPENDIXES INCLUDE A LISTING OF TEXT EDITING SCENARIO WITH SYSTEM RESPONSES, A SAMPLE TEXT EDITING PRINTOUT FROM LINE PRINTER AND DECWRITER, AND TRACK MESSAGE INPUT TIME LINES. (RCB)