Canadian Department of National Defence uses technology from UK-based Nexor to deploy secure military messaging solution

Military Message Handling System ensures confidentiality, integrity and guaranteed delivery of email across Canadian Armed Forces

30 October 2002 – The Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) is deploying a secure Military Message Handling System (MMHS) for personnel involved in the exchange of confidential mission-critical information, categorised by the military as 'secret messaging'. The infrastructure, which uses technology from Nexor, will guarantee message confidentiality, integrity and delivery. It will be deployed across all Canadian Armed Forces bases, supporting up to 10,000 users.

US-based General Dynamics Decision Systems, chosen by the Canadian DND to oversee and manage the integration project, selected Nexor to deliver the functionality required to provide secure interpersonal, organisational and role-based messaging using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. Integrated within the existing Microsoft 2000 / Exchange 2000 environment, the MMHS delivers email confidentiality, content integrity, non-repudiation, access control and security domain checking.

'Managing the confidentiality of email within this environment is of the greatest importance,' explains Humphrey Browning, Head of Technical Consultancy at Nexor. 'Any MMHS must be built around a "fire and forget" mentality; the assurance that once a message is sent it will be actioned within a specified time period and that, during transit, it is secure from third parties. In addition, any messaging system has to be highly reliable and fault tolerant. Nexor has used COTS products, originally designed with military messaging in mind, ensuring that features such as speed of service, accountability and reliability are maintained.'

The system incorporates advanced security labelling techniques to ensure that information is classified accurately and that associated security procedures and policies for encryption, authorisation and access control are executed automatically.

Secure roles-based messaging is conducted on an individual basis, eliminating the need for users to hold multiple cryptographic keys for each role that an individual performs. By limiting the number of cryptographic keys held, the technology limits the opportunities for the integrity of the service to be breached by lost or mismanaged keys. Nexor S/MIME security can also generate tokens for third-party applications such as guard or gateway solutions. This ensures that vital security checks, such as virus scanning and content filtering, can still be carried out, despite the message being encrypted.

For further information, please info [at] nexor [dot] com (subject: Nexor%20Press%20Release) (contact Wendy Draper).