When a global manufacturer of secure systems in the aerospace and defense industry began developing a new computing solution designed to mitigate modern cybersecurity threats, it was aware of the many challenges it would face while evaluating hardware and software components. The company sought a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) 3U VPX single-board computer (SBC) with a robust and proven security profile upon which to build its Trusted Computing solution, a processor board that would provide a fully protected Root of Trust-based boot process and extends this trust to its hardened Red Hat Linux operating system and application software.
Ultimately, this Trusted Computing solution would be developed specifically to meet stringent security requirements and be tested by a prominent intelligence agency in order to receive its prestigious security certification, a recognition that would approve the solution for use in secure environments on a variety of platforms. In order to achieve this highly valuable certification, the company would need to perform rigorous security hardening of the board, followed by security vulnerability analysis and penetration testing on all hardware and software components, knowing the intelligence agency would perform similar testing to an even higher degree of scrutiny before awarding the certification.
In addition to meeting these critical security requirements, suppliers would be evaluated on their ability to demonstrate a truly trusted supply chain with processes in place for manufacturing security, component supply chain integrity, and counterfeit parts mitigation, among others. As well, it was important for all technology to make it through the thorough security certification process and still offer a lucrative useful life and period of market availability. For this reason, all hardware components were evaluated on their ability to offer a long and stable lifecycle, as well as their supplier’s support to combat obsolescence.
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