News Release from: Jaluna
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 28 September 2004
Consortium aims for new levels of OS security
The French Ministry of Defence has awarded a Eur 7 million, 3-year contract to develop a multilevel-security Linux-based operating system solution that will reach the Common Criteria EAL5.
Note: Readers of the Editor’s free email newsletter will have read this news when it was announced. . It’s free!
An industrial consortium comprising Bertin Technologies, Surlog, Jaluna, Mandrakesoft and Oppida, has been granted a Eur 7 million, 3-year contract by the French Ministry of Defence to develop a multilevel-security Linux-based operating system solution that will reach the Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 5 (EAL5), guaranteeing an outstanding security level for an operating system. "Security is a major concern in today's embedded and networked computer systems, desktops and servers alike", said Philippe Demigne, Chairman, Bertin Technologies. "We are very proud to have been chosen by the French Ministry of Defence to manage this challenging project and to enrich operating systems with innovative security features".
"Our security architecture is the cement of the project.
It binds together each partner's expertise".
Bertin Technologies will be responsible in particular for the CC-EAL5 security level.
Consortium partners envision that hardware partitioning and virtualisation technology will play a key role in designing future open operating system security solutions.
Jaluna, the operating system expert that recently introduced innovative technology allowing multiple operating system instances to share the same embedded system hardware, is responsible for system development.
"Jaluna's vision has been validated by the choice of Jaluna/OSware as the software foundation for the project", said Michel Gien, CEO, Jaluna.
"We are very happy to contribute our well known operating system expertise towards such an ambitious goal".
Mandrakesoft will contribute and adapt its Linux distribution, and stimulate the open source community around the future results of the project, which will be released under an open-source licence following project completion.
"Such a project makes the most of the Open Source development model", commented Francois Bancilhon, CEO, Mandrakesoft.
"It will leverage the power of Open Source, first by reusing a lot of pre-existing software, and second by letting the community survey and improve the code.
Mandrakesoft is proud to lend its skills to such a project".
Surlog will instrument and monitor software development processes to ensure that the very high evaluation level required by the project can be achieved.
"The ambitious objective of an evaluation at CC-EAL5 level for an operating system is a true challenge that can be achieved by expanding approved techniques, methods and tools for dependability and safety with those of security", said Marie Catherine Monegier du Sorbier, CEO, Surlog.
"Our tools and recognised expertise in building, monitoring and auditing complex software development processes in critical systems will be key to achieve such a high level of security evaluation".
Evaluation against the ISO15408 Common Criteria standard will be performed by Oppida, one of the very few organisations accredited by the French National Security Agency to perform information technology security evaluation.
"Certification against a recognised international standard is essential for users to trust the operating system they rely on for their operation", said Herve Hosy, Director, Oppida.
"This is precisely Oppida's core expertise".
"We will perform regular evaluations of project intermediate results until the ultimate CC-EAL5 evaluation".
The scope of the certified Linux-based multilevel-security solution that will be developed by the consortium goes far beyond military uses.
It is intended to address the industrial market at large, as well as telecommunication and enterprise systems.
Major industry players worldwide will be invited to join the project as associates, express their requirements, and interact with the development team.
"This will be a world first for an operating system solution of such a wide scope and we are proud to be at the heart of such a challenge", concluded Philippe Demigne, Chairman, Bertin Technologies.
• Jaluna: contact details and other news
• Other news in Embedded Software and Operating Systems
• Email this news to a colleague
•
• RSS news feed for Jaluna
• RSS news feed for Embedded Software and Operating Systems
• Electronicstalk Home Page
Copyright © 2000-2006 Pro-Talk Ltd, UK. Based on news supplied by Jaluna
Click on the advertisement to visit the advertiser's web site now