Evolving Enterprise Gray Networks with Symmetric Key Agreement for the Future (Q13c)
Enterprise Gray serves as a secure, controlled topology that enables safe communication and data transfer between classified (Red) and unclassified (Black) systems. It bridges classified and unclassified networks while meeting NSA Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) standards, including the Symmetric Key Management (SKM) Requirements Annex, which permits the use of manual keys in environments where automation is traditionally impractical. In these Gray Networks, secure communication protocols like IPSec VPNs commonly employ pre-shared keys (PSKs) for initial authentication and encryption, providing a robust foundation for controlled information exchange across network boundaries.
PSKs are a well-established, ubiquitous option for securing network communications, particularly in scenarios where ease of implementation and cost-effectiveness are priorities. Devices from vendors such as Juniper, Cisco, and Aruba support PSK ingestion through various standardized and proprietary protocols, aligning with NSA CSfC’s Approved Components List. These RFC-8784-compliant integrations demonstrate that PSKs remain an important, quantum-safe solution for SKM in modern networking environments. However, manual key distribution—requiring human intervention from key generation through distribution, logging, and auditing—creates significant logistical overhead, limiting scalability, ease of use, and key rotation within the Enterprise Gray topology.
This talk proposes a new paradigm for Enterprise Gray network SKM that is secure, scalable, and automated compared to traditional manual SKM and PKI-based systems. By leveraging Symmetric Key Agreement (SKA), PSKs can be extended to multi-site connectivity applications, wireless connections for remote mobile access, and multi-cloud environments spanning both commercial and government-controlled domains. SKA’s fully automated, quantum-secure approach eliminates the need for human intervention, making it an ideal solution for addressing the logistical and security challenges of SKM in Enterprise Gray networks.