Curtiss-Wright Controls VPX3-685 router begins common criteria certification

ASHBURN, Va., 9 May 2012. Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS), a business unit of Curtiss-Wright Controls, has announced that the VPX3-685 rugged embedded secure ethernet router has been accepted for Common Criteria certification under the Communications Security Establishment Canada's (CSEC) Common Criteria Evaluation and Certification Scheme (CCS). The evaluation is already underway and the company expects the router to complete the EAL2+ (Evaluation Assurance Level 2) certification in the next three to four months.

Common Criteria is an internationally recognized set of guidelines (ISO 15408), which define a framework for evaluating security features and capabilities of information technology (IT) security products. The standard consists of several predetermined evaluation assurance levels. Common Criteria allows vendors to have their products tested against a chosen level by an independent third-party testing laboratory. The Common Criteria Mutual Recognition Agreement (CCRA) is a pact which allows Common Criteria evaluations to be recognized by all participating countries, regardless of where the evaluation was completed. There are currently 26 countries involved in the CCRA, including the United States and Canadian governments.

Common Criteria establishes Protection Profiles that describe which types of Information Assurance (IA) protections are applicable to different product types. Curtiss-Wright has adopted the Network Device Protection Profile (NDPP) as a network Switch and Router, and will augment this profile with the security functionality of an embedded Firewall and a Network Intrusion Detection System (IDS).

The VPX3-685 is also currently undergoing a FIPS 140-2 government security evaluation process to validate the cryptographic functionality of the product against certain standards. FIPS 140-2 is a computer security standard made by the U.S. government to accredit crytographic modules.

The VPX3-685 is a rugged OpenVPX-compliant 3U VPX module that can be configured with up to 20 gigabit Ethernet interfaces. It can also provide two 10Gb/s Ethernet ports to support switch-to-switch expansion, dual-redundant networks, or for architecting high-performance 10Gb/s network backbones. The board incorporates the functionality of a switch, router, firewall, VPN/IPSec encryption device, and an IDS system. The VPX3-685 is a military embedded system designed for applications such as land vehicles and airborne systems where size, weight and power (SWaP) are concerns.

The VPX3-685 allows for the integration of secure gigabit switching and routing into embedded systems designed for harsh environment applications. Targeting IPv4/v6 Intra-Platform Networks (IPNs), the VPX3-685 is designed to prevent unauthorized access to information. It can be used to secure a data storage network, protect data across wireless or wide-area networks, or to defend mission critical applications from attacks in the forms of viruses, IP Spoofing, Denial of Service (DoS), and Trojan Horses. CWCDS designed the VPX3-685 to incorporate a hardware-accelerated SNORT engine for Intrusion Detection and Protection. CWCDS provides regular IDS signature updates as well.

The VPX3-685 Secure Router is the newest addition to CWCDS' family of board and stand-alone switch/router products.