VPX router gets dolled up for FIPS crypto cert

Product

March 29, 2011

Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing's VPX3-685 secure router is undergoing FIPS 140-2 Level 2 cryptographic validation at NIST under the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP).

This kind of certification is the stuff dreams are made of … well, if you’re a marketing guy for a VPX company, that is. Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing’s VPX3-685 secure router is undergoing FIPS 140-2 Level 2 cryptographic validation at NIST under the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP). This is a whole lot of alphabet soup jargon to say that once certified, the single-slot VPX module will ready for deployment in the most information sensitive data communications systems. The certification is the equivalent of winning an Oscar, if you’re a crypto kinda gal. But this certification is accepted by the U.S., Canada, and many other NATO countries.

“Authentication,” “integrity,” and “confidentiality” are the watchwords for data passing through this module. Corsec Security, Inc., is helping CWCEC attain the certification. The module itself can be configured with up to 20 GbE interfaces and up to two 10 GbE ports for switch-to-switch comms and backbones. Like any router, it thwarts IP spoofing, Denial of Service (DoS), and Trojan horses. There’s VLAN and VPN (IPsec/PPTP/L2TP) support, a firewall, NAT routing for IPv4, access control lists, and IPv6 with IPsec tunneling. The list of additional advanced router features is too long to mention here, but you’d think this thing was a full-blown Cisco rack … yet it’s “only” a 3U VPX module. If you’re running a red/black network on the battlefield, this router’s worth a close look.