Digital trust
for defense

What are the top cyber risks for the defense industry?

The battlefield on the ground, in the air, on and under water relies heavily on cyberspace and is increasingly becoming a digital ecosystem. Tamper-resistance is required at the device, inter-device, and networked systems level for mission critical operations. The major risks stem from the complexity of managing the supply chain (defense contractors), the sophisticated tools and methods in the arsenal of nation-state adversaries, and the air-gapped nature of combat systems. The willingness and ability to invest and innovate with new technologies face budgetary constraints and the effort to integrate for timely field deployment.

What is required to implement Digital Trust in the defense industry?

A strong risk mitigation strategy for the defense industry requires the following steps:

• Using industry standards-based specifications (e.g. NIST, FIPS) vetted for robustness against nation-state attacks
• Integrating protective countermeasures on devices through the supply chain of equipment manufacturers
• Managing digital secrets at scale and as a local or remote maintenance activity—as a function of mission control
• Using X.509 digital certificates for key lifecycle management from a trusted facility
• Ubiquity across heterogeneous devices and systems for interoperability
• Tamper-resistant content delivery through the supply chain for traceability
• Minimizing personnel re-training to operate the hardened devices and systems on the battlefield