Department of Energy

Energy Research/Defense Programs Security Research Requirements

Report on a joint ER/DP workshop held at Argonne National Laboratory November 15-17, 1995

Sponsored by the Mathematical, Information, and Computational Science Division,

Office of Computational and Technology Research, Office of Energy Research, U. S. Department of Energy

Organizers:

Ian Foster (foster@mcs.anl.gov), Art Hale (alhale@cs.sandia.gov), and Bill Johnston (johnston@george.lbl.gov)

Contents

1.0 Workshop Goals
2.0 Participants
3.0 Workshop Format
4.0 Application Requirements
4.1 Collaborative Environments
4.2 Remote Experiments & Control Systems
4.3 Weapons Program
4.4 The North American Electric Power Grid
4.5 High Performance Computing
4.6 Information Archiving & Retrieval
5.0 ER/DP Commonalities and Differences
6.0 DOE Security Research Priorities
6.1 Scalable cryptology
6.2 Security APIs for DOE applications
6.3 Security-enhanced application development tools
6.4 Public key infrastructure
6.5 Security policy definition and negotiation
6.6 Access control
6.7 Secure sensors
6.8 Assured software
6.9 Security assessment and metrics
6.10 High performance defenses
7.0 For More Information...

1.0 Workshop Goals
  • Encourage interactions between DP and ER security researchers, and between research and operations
    •
  • Identify DOE mission-critical and/or unique security requirements, and research priorities based on these requirements
    •

    A unique meeting bringing together Energy Research, Defense Programs, and HQ personnel in a corporative setting.

    2.0 Participants
  • DOE programs (requirements/R&D areas)
    •
  • NonDOE experts (technology contributions)
    •

    3.0 Workshop Format
  • DOE applications
    •
  • Security technologies
    •
  • Discussion of research priorities
    •

    4.0 Application Requirements
  • Presentations
    •
  • Also discussed:
    •

    4.1 Collaborative Environments
  • Tools for supporting remote collaboration
    •
  • Distinctive security concerns:
    •

    4.2 Remote Experiments & Control Systems
  • Remote operation of large-scale scientific instruments
    •
  • Security issues
    •

    4.3 Weapons Program
  • Information surety: privacy, integrity, availability
    •
  • Very high consequences for failure
    •
  • Security issues
    •

    4.4 The North American Electric Power Grid
  • On-line brokering of power transmission services
    •
  • Economic pressures will probably force coupling of brokering system to on-line control in the future
    •

    4.5 High Performance Computing
  • In particular, high-performance applications that span multiple systems
    •
  • Security concerns
    •

    4.6 Information Archiving & Retrieval
  • Distinctive security problems
    •

    5.0 ER/DP Commonalities and Differences
  • Most requirements are common across ER and DP
    •
  • Some common adversaries (although different scale of consequences)
    •
  • Need for openness on ER side
    •
  • Nuclear safety constraints restrict solutions for weapon information systems
    •

    6.0 DOE Security Research Priorities
  • Scalable cryptography performance
    •
  • Security APIs
    •
  • Security-enhanced toolkits
    •
  • Public key infrastructure
    •
  • Security policy tools
    •
  • Access control
    •
  • Secure sensors
    •
  • Assured software
    •
  • Security assessment/metrics
    •
  • High performance defenses
    •

    Recurring requirements are for high performance and for protection against high-consequence events

    6.1 Scalable cryptology

    6.2 Security APIs for DOE applications

    6.3 Security-enhanced application development tools

    6.4 Public key infrastructure

    6.5 Security policy definition and negotiation

    6.6 Access control

    6.7 Secure sensors

    6.8 Assured software

    6.9 Security assessment and metrics

    6.10 High performance defenses

    7.0 For More Information...
  • A Web site has been created to serve as a repository for program information and a mechanism for information exchange:
    •

      http://www-itg.lbl.gov/DOE_Security_Research


    http://www-itg.lbl.gov/DOE_Security_Research