Multi Level Security within Collective Mission Simulation Architectures

Collective simulation is proving an important driver to establish objectives within application areas such as development, training and exercises. However, the simulation models exist within different security domains and these models need to be protected while information needs to be shared between the different simulators.
Therefore there is an increasing need for a multi level security solution that enables the sharing of simulation information across these security domains to establish collective simulations. This paper describes the topic of Multi Level Security (MLS) within a Collective Mission Simulation (CMS) environment. The ‘Collective’ aspect within
CMS means that simulation systems are interconnected to each other and work together to reach a common objective. The main reason to interconnect simulation systems is the complexity of the overall simulation models.
This complexity requires multiple organizations to be involved with their own models and simulation systems. For example, the creation of a new airplane requires different commercial companies to interconnect their simulation systems and test the overall performance of the airplane. A second example is Collective Mission Simulations where
different simulators from different nations are interconnected, e.g. a Forward Air Controller Simulation (FACSIM) from the Netherlands connected to an US F-16 fighter simulator. In both examples the simulator systems can have
their own characteristics and information. By briefly describing the evolution of the simulation systems, from standalone to (international) interconnected simulation systems, this paper will explain in more detail the possible conflicting interest of the organizations and security risks that are involved. These conflicting interests, or risks,
could result in the limitation of information that is shared between the systems. The paper will describe a security concept that could be applied to prevent leakage of sensitive information. This concept is translated to the High Level Architecture (HLA) and a more detailed description is given of the different security mechanisms “security labeling” and “information release”. The Object Model Template (OMT) of HLA is used as the starting point for this security solution. The paper will conclude by describing the current status of the research and will describe future work that is necessary for the implementation of this security concept.