By Todd Prouty, Business Development Manager
Hardened cybersecurity has taken center stage at the U.S. Department of Defense and expectations for its suppliers are increasing in lock step. DoD programs are requiring heightened – and even new – system certifications that ensure secure and reliable data handling. No longer will just any commercial solution do for critical mission systems. Certified hardware and systems from governing bodies, such as NIST, NSA and NIAP are becoming the standard.
We experienced this intensified focus on a recent project with a long-time customer that required the assurance of a National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP)-certified rugged firewall. Crystal Group worked through the strict evaluation process with an approved independent testing lab to achieve NIAP certification of our rugged firewall.
In addition to meeting our customer’s objective, attaining this approval of our rugged solution for deployed, networked communications authenticates the security of Crystal Group’s rugged firewall, which protects critical IT communications from the home station and headquarters to the front lines.
Being able to provide this certification — earned only after clearing NIAP’s rigorous Common Criteria — delivers an additional layer of reliable, versatile, ruggedized security for troops and other forward-deployed users. They can deploy seamless, networked communications with confidence for everything from missile defense to situational awareness.
NIAP certification is a momentous milestone, providing a green light for our industry-leading firewall’s use in official National Security Systems networks and communications systems that handle sensitive data for strategic, operational and tactical activities. Our nation’s security rides on the networked information sharing that underpins defense, intelligence, command and control, weapons systems and other missions we’re honored to support.
It’s imperative that the components in mission-critical systems are never tampered with or otherwise subject to security threats. The NIAP certification reinforces the value of Crystal Group’s in-house design and manufacturing, ensuring our supply chain is safeguarded against potential foreign interference or malicious tampering. The milestone also further cements our commitment to securely providing advanced, high-performance capabilities.
The RCS5516FW is a purpose-built, VPN-capable firewall that provides rugged cybersecurity for high-performance networking as far as the tactical edge. Built to withstand extreme temperatures, moisture, shock, vibration and other challenging conditions, our NIAP-certified rugged firewall provides the tough-to-find multipurpose capability that delivers powerful network protection in a rugged form factor.
Crystal Group is a long-trusted and designated mission-essential partner of the DoD and other U.S. government entities. Our offerings, which also include an optional NIAP-certified IPsec module on the RCS7450 rugged switch, are employed across hundreds of defense programs and countless applications supporting critical infrastructure, transportation and other key U.S. industries and sectors.