Military forces secure pervasive communication services for Air Force and Space Force operations
The Department of the Air Force and Space Force are ensuring secure mobile communication for their operations by deploying rapid-response teams like the Joint Communications Support Element (JCSE). These teams establish the critical communications infrastructure in deployed and operational environments, even in degraded or denied spaces.
Aaron Bishop, the chief information security officer of the Department of the Air Force, is responsible for securing IT for more than 180 bases around the world, which are essentially small cities with housing, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure. Bishop faces a tension between using the newest technology and ensuring its security, especially with the variety of new endpoints to be secured, including tablets, iPads, watches, in-vehicle displays, aircraft displays, and large command and control satellite displays.
To ensure secure, resilient communication architectures, the Department of the Air Force is implementing several measures. These include:
- Rapid deployment of tailored communication kits that support multi-domain and multi-national interoperability.
- Use of robust, encrypted, and approved cryptographic channels to ensure secure communication, including for out-of-band authentication and cross-channel security essential in mobile and contested environments.
- Integration of mobile wireless communication centers capable of wireless Internet and phone services in remote or denied areas, supporting flexible command and control.
- Support for multi-domain ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) capabilities that underpin global vigilance and situational awareness vital for secure and effective communications.
The focus on ubiquitous communication is resulting in a larger focus on the supply chain and ensuring endpoint devices have a standard set of protections. Zero trust principles contain potential damage in case of human error or misconfigured systems. Data tagging and management are key components of a zero trust infrastructure. The Department of the Air Force is aiming to provide the capability needed at the end, harden it, and make it secure, and then connect it into an already secure backbone for transportation.
Bishop does not take a compliance-based approach to conversations about security but works with mission commanders to give them the best possible way to accomplish their tasks. The key to securing various communication channels is anticipating changes through zero trust principles. IT personnel should always know what they have, how to protect it, and what that looks like under normal conditions using zero trust principles.
The Department of the Air Force and Space Force require secure communication from any environment, including degraded or denied spaces. Bishop emphasizes the importance of consistent communication across any channel, be it terrestrial link, satellite link, radio frequency, or any other channel for transporting data. The department is committed to providing secure mobile communication solutions to support its operations, ensuring operational continuity even in challenging environments.
[1] Department of the Air Force - Secure Mobile Communication [2] Department of the Air Force - Cryptographic Channels [3] Department of the Air Force - Multi-Domain ISR [4] Department of the Air Force - Joint Communications Support Element [5] Department of the Air Force - Mobile Wireless Communication Centers
- The Department of the Air Force is implementing robust, encrypted, and approved cryptographic channels, as part of their focus on secure communication, to ensure secure data transport in space-and-astronomy, as well as in cyberspace and terrestrial environments.
- As technology evolves and more endpoints are added to the communications infrastructure of the Department of the Air Force, the focus shifts towards securing these endpoints using zero trust principles, thus ensuring secure mobile communication for various science and technology applications.
