NATO STO

Within IST-069-RTG the Protected Core Networking concept was developed as a means to create a non-classified transport network to be used to interconnect NATO partners within NATO missions. Using colored clouds, partners are able to form information domains on top of the transport network to exchange information among them. The IST-069-RTG produced the PCN draft Interoperabilty specification (ISpec). A number of topics that were insufficiently described in the ISpec were elaborated upon in the IST-103-RTG, among which was the definition of the Network Management and Cyber Defence capabilities of PCN. The IST-103-RTG resulted in a number of options and suggestions for the implementation of an NMCD within the PCN context. With the implementation of Protected Core Networking in FMN Spiral 3, a need has surfaced to define a Network Management and Cyber Defence (NMCD) entity for the management and control of Protected Core Segments (PCSs) and Colored Clouds (CCs) in the federation. It is a set of technical functions that are engineered to provide near real-time control of the network resources as well as to provide authentication and authorization of the network elements. NMCDs are federated together to provide an information domain that is dedicated to Protected Core (PCore) and CCs control and management. The NMCD entity in each separate PCS and CC needs to be able to exchange information with other NMCDs securely by using the transport service provided by the Protected Core (PCore). This information domain is implemented as Colored Clouds associated to each and every independent PCS and CC within and connected to the PCore. These NMCD CCs have their own INFOSEC requirements, based on the security requirements of control and management information.