Blacker (security) explained

Blacker (styled BLACKER) is a U.S. Department of Defense computer network security project designed to achieve A1 class ratings (very high assurance) of the Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (TCSEC).^{[1] [2]}

The first Blacker program began in the late 1970s, with a follow-on eventually producing fielded devices in the late 1980s.^[3] It was the first secure system with trusted end-to-end encryption on the United States' Defense Data Network.^[4]

The project was implemented by SDC (software) and Burroughs (hardware), and after their merger, by the resultant company Unisys.^[5]

See also

• RED/BLACK concept for segregation of sensitive plaintext information (RED signals) from encrypted ciphertext (BLACK signals)

References

1. Book: Weissman, Clark. BLACKER: security for the DDN examples of A1 security engineering trades. Proceedings 1992 IEEE Computer Society Symposium on Research in Security and Privacy. 286–292. 10.1109/RISP.1992.213253. 0-8186-2825-1. 1992. 6825365.
2. Web site: Handbook for the Computer Security Certification of Trusted Systems. https://archive.today/20121212210245/http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA390673. dead. 2012-12-12. 2007-12-02. Weissman. Clark. 1995-01-24.
3. DARPA Technical Accomplishments: An Historical Review of DARPA Projects . https://web.archive.org/web/20190718094618/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a239925.pdf . live . July 18, 2019 . 1 . Sidney G. Reed, Richard H. Van Atta, and Seymore J. Deitchman . IDA Paper P-2192 . 1990 . 20-18 – 20-20 .
4. Web site: BLACKER, an article at the Intelligence Resource Program. 2007-12-02. Pike. John. 2000-02-11.
5. Web site: Re: Network Layer Encryption History and Prior Art . Steve Kent . ipsec mailing list . 1996-06-19.