Press Releases

The Strategic Choice for Secure Government and Military Desktops

While security has markedly improved in government, military and public sector installations, cyber threats continue to be prevalent. Key concerns include securing sensitive information, network breaches, malware attacks and cyber terrorism. So, in today’s increasingly security-conscious world, a pronounced move towards secure desktop KVM switches is one of the most effective ways to ensure the integrity of desktop data.

Secure KVM switches protect desktop access to reduce risk in government and military environments where security is imperative, as well as any other information-sensitive applications that require safe and secure switching between computers on different security level networks when deploying the solution.

"The government requires reassurance that if a peripheral sharing switch or KVM is compromised, no usable data can be stolen from the device." Nicolas Jaud, PM, ATEN UK. "The point of interest is that there is no stringent process to go through certification."

Known as a new scheme of certification for peripheral devices, it has been updated to avoid the confusion with the previous EAL (Evaluation Assurance Level)-based evaluations - where EAL2+ criteria were more secure than EAL4+. NIAP no longer accepts EAL based evaluations and has transitioned to evaluations with the exact compliance with technology-specific Protection Profiles (PP).

Will we see a replacement in human security?

"Of course we cannot neglect the human element, but, rather than increasing the skills and training..." Questions Mr Jaud. "... perhaps emphasising on the installation of the correct piece of equipment that can act as an alternative replacement should be considered - with certified devices, the basic risk of failure can be minimised."

With channels isolated to prevent data leakage, models must also abide by privacy and security regulations in addition to complying with the requirements of the latest protection profiles for peripheral sharing devices. Compliance with PSS PP v3.0 ensures peripheral sharing capabilities provide maximum user data security when switching port focus, preventing unauthorised data flows or leakage between connected sources.

In the UK, devices are required to be compliant with the Commercial Product Assurance (CPA) scheme, however, there are no Security Characteristics (SC) suitable for a KVM device, so a CPA Evaluation is not possible. But since the Common Criteria (CC) is an international scheme and CC Certification is valid in 28 countries (including UK and US) PPS PP V3.0 will fulfil organisation in the UK looking for KVM devices.

This ensures high-level desktop security, protection, and data safekeeping for organisations in industries such as government agencies (e.g. Department of Defence, Department of Justice, CIA, military, etc.), finance and other environments using multiple computers with different security classifications.

For government and military agencies looking for true network separation between classified and non-classified, and compliance with the latest international protection protocols, the ATEN PSS PP v3.0 Secure KVM Series provides an ideal solution. With protection on both the physical and user operation levels to combat data leakage across internal ports as well as to external networks, which can mitigate the vulnerabilities of a variety of cyber attacks, ATEN Secure KVM Switches are the strategic choice for security-conscious desktop applications in all industries.

Key Protections for Instantly Secure Deployment

The NIAP PSS PP v3.0 Compliance for secure KVM switches are designed to keep sensitive assets isolated whilst providing advanced security and a user-friendly design for instantly secure deployment.  

Recently launched by ATEN is a series of secure KVM switches that are compliant.

·         Complete Product Line up – Available in 2/4/8-port USB DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort  Single/Dual Display models

·         Superior Video Quality — Supports resolutions up to 3840 x 2160@30Hz with crystal clear image quality.

·         Secure Port Switching — Port selection via pushbutton only to enhance security.

·         Data Channel Isolation — Isolated channel per port to prevent data leakage between connected computers.

·         Restricted USB connectivity — Non-authorized HIDs (Human Interface Devices) or non-predefined CAC devices will be rejected/ignored.

·         User Data Protection — Keyboard/Mouse data buffer is automatically purged when switching KVM port focus.

·         Configurable Device Filtering — USB CAC Port can be configured to allow/reject whitelisted/blacklisted devices via Admin log-on function or Windows-based application.

·         Administrator Configuration and Event Log Functions — User-friendly interface for an authorised administrator to audit critical KVM operation logs and perform KVM switch configuration.

·         Always-on Tamper-proof Design — The KVM switch becomes inoperable when physical tampering is detected.

Learn more about ATEN's range of security KVM switches in the UK.