Czech Army: NATO Information Exchange Gateway

Enabling the Czech Army to implement Information Exchange Gateways with Deep Secure Solutions.

The Army of the Czech Republic is the military service responsible for the defence of the Czech Republic.

A NATO member since March 1999, the army plays an active role in NATO led initiatives, from mission support in Afghanistan to the strengthening of the region’s defensive posture and promoting stability around the Alliance neighbourhood in the south and east.

To conduct these initiatives successfully NATO members must be able to share information securely with each other, non-NATO nations and partner organisations such as International and Non-Government Organisations.

To facilitate this, the Czech Army decided to develop and deploy NATO Information Exchange Gateways (IEGs) in line with NATO’s best practice recommendations.

Business Challenge

Information Protection Services

The Military Technical Institute (MTI) of the Army of the Czech Republic was tasked with the design, installation, configuration and integration of several IEGs, before handing them over for acceptance testing and deployment in the field.

An IEG comprises a number of integrated components with the Information Protection Services (IPS) providing boundary protection for core applications such as military messaging, web, email, file transfer and chat.

“We needed a solution that would enable us to apply consistent policies for the sharing of protectively marked information across all protocols.” Marek Hajn, Senior Project Manager, MTI.

Building an IEG is a formidable technical challenge and the IPS components must be able to enforce complex rulesets that determine what protectively marked information can and cannot be shared as well as defending the network from content-borne attacks. This challenge was further compounded by the aggressive timetable the team set themselves.

“The goal was to build the IEGs and have them ready for acceptance testing, handover and deployment in the field in twenty weeks.” Marek Hajn, Senior Project Manager, MTI.

Solution

Boundary Protection for NATO Information Exchange Gateway

Deep Secure worked with the MTI to build and deliver the Information Protection Services (IPS) element of the IEGs, utilizing Deep Secure’s Deep Content Inspection and Content Threat Removal technologies.

Deep Secure’s Policy Engine Guards for Mail, Web and File Transfer were deployed to perform deep content inspection and enforce label checking to ensure the correct handling of protectively marked information. They also enable sharing of information with partners without leaking key words and phrases, ensuring only agreed file types are shared and that only authorised users can send and receive data.

Deep Secure’s information eXchange product was deployed to perform content threat removal, validating structured NATO Friendly Force Information (NFFI) being carried over tactical data links as well as ensuring the content of chat sessions was threat-free.

“The accreditation process is on track following extensive military testing and, on completion, several instances will be deployed in the field over the coming months.” Marek Hajn, Senior Project Manager, MTI.

Results

Deployed in the Field

The Army of the Czech Republic now has several IEGs deployed in the field enabling the organisation to securely share information with NATO and non-NATO partners, enforcing information sharing policies and ensuring data hygiene at the boundary.

Deep Secure’s role was crucial. The company not only delivered the solutions that power the IPS components, it also assisted the MTI by providing consulting and system integration expertise gained over many years successfully delivering IEG projects across Europe and the Middle East.

"Deep Secure provided extensive cooperation and support during the design and development process, providing an expert team to work with us every step of the way.” Marek Hajn, Senior Project Manager, MTI.

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