Why ITAR’s New Encryption Rule is a Step in The Right Direction
Late last year, after more than four years of deliberation, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations was enacted by the United States government with the intention of ruling, modernizing and unifying the role of end-to-end encryption in securing sensitive data. This new encryption rule offers a major boost to data security and cloud modernization, and also has the ability to lower costs and improve productivity throughout our military.
The Tactical Edge team is excited about this development, as statistically, hacks are more likely to occur through 3rd party vendors/software. This recent ruling makes overall systems more secure – as a company, we feel safer, and we can confidently pass that along to our customers and clients. Of course, though this is a great first step, there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to encryption security for government agencies, government contractors, and military personnel.
Here at Tactical Edge, we believe in taking a proactive stance when it comes to security. Instead of waiting for the industry to catch up, we leverage the most advanced security protocols and tactics in all of our products. And by leveraging multiple (or all of) the recommendations below, our layered security approach keeps our customers and their data secure at all times.
Here are some examples of what we are doing in this regard:
Solutions and Products are Deployed into a Secure Enclave
Secure Enclaves are isolated memory locations that run data in a trusted execution environment (TEE), protected by locked-down CPU hardware. This makes it almost impossible for malicious actors to unscramble sensitive data, even if they somehow manage to gain physical access to the physical infrastructure without being detected.
Information is Only Passed through End-to-End Encryption
We encrypt our data at the point of creation and scramble it so it can’t be intercepted and manipulated by bad actors. The information becomes deciphered, unscrambled, and understandable, only when it reaches its intended target and rightful recipient. If someone does try to pass off a manipulated request, it becomes immediately obvious and discarded.
We Rely on “Dumb” Beacons and Sensors
Dumb is typically used as a negative, particularly in consumer tech, where everything from our phones to our refrigerators is marketed as “smart”. In the context of security, “dumb” is actually a good thing.
We set up our beacons and sensors to retain the information required to be functional and beneficial, but not enough to present a security threat. For example, the sensor may store an ID, and send the ID and GPS coordinates to the server, but unless a bad actor knows exactly what that ID means, and what records it is associated with, this information provides them zero value. And again, if they try to manipulate the ID or GPS location to send back “false data,” it would be immediately recognized and the data discarded.
Proximity Security for Beacons and Sensors
Bluetooth signals commonly reach 300 feet or more, and some of the latest products can reach up to 1 kilometer. While that extra range can be great for your smart home devices, it isn’t great for security as it makes it easier for bad actors to connect to your devices.
That’s why we talk to our military clients about using proximity as an additional security layer. By turning the Bluetooth range for our devices down to 10 feet, or even 5 feet, our customers still get the automatic detection and update capabilities our systems offer but would require someone to be well within the visual sightline. Meaning, if a bad actor wanted to hack our device, they would first need to get access to the physical location where our sensors are held. And when that it a Forward Operating Base or Secured Warehouse…well, good luck.
Tap into the Latest Security Innovations with Tactical Edge
All of the tactics described above are hardware agnostic, meaning we design all of our solutions to work seamlessly across all platforms, operating systems, and underlying hardware types. We are committed to extending this focus on security to all of our clients, so that we can all do business safely, with trusted technology.
The recent ITAR ruling was a great first step, and we are excited to help lead the industry into a safer, more secure world.
For more information on Tactical Edge or to request a demonstration or our products, reach out to our Director of East Coast Operations, Steve Palmer, at steve.palmer@tacticaledge.us or (302) 242-7778