As it is with all aspects of modernity encroaching on our lives, in many professional, mobile situations the need for computer networking is growing. Mobile (‘smart’) telephones already provide rich network experiences to consumers, and many people working in army command-and-control, first-response or other field-situations wonder why they can’t have these possibilities at their disposal in the line of duty.

Emergency circumstances typically encounter the following problems: unplanned network topologies, limited radio coverage and roaming restrictions, low (or no) bandwidth, overloaded networks, high latency, high cost, application constraints, differentiation between voice- and data- handling and no control over security.

In this paper we outline a solution to mitigate the combination of these issues, and we propose a new security model. By joining mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET) capabilities of modern routing platforms, and a single, robust security solution tailored to the dynamism of MANET, we can counter most if not all of these issues, and thereby provide professionals on the move with modern, networked information systems that they need in the field.

Our security solution ‘payload encryption’ has been successfully demonstrated, during its proof-of-concept phase, enabling voice- and data over multiple wireless and wired transmission means, including broadband and message based satellite communication systems. As a follow up, the Dutch armed forces will use the payload encryption security solution as one of the basic building blocks to deploy an all IP, all encrypted network following the principles outlined in the NC3A Protected Core Networking concept.

by Kees Jan Hermans, Technical Project Lead, Crypto Unit, Fox-IT, Delft, Netherlands

Download the whitepaper “Secure networking in the field” here.