A multi-level secure file sharing server and its application to a multi-level secure cloud

Contemporary cloud environments are built on low-assurance components, so they cannot provide a high level of assurance about the isolation and protection of information. A “multi-level” secure cloud environment thus typically consists of multiple, isolated clouds, each of which handles data of only one security level. Not only are such environments duplicative and costly, data “sharing” must be implemented by massive, wasteful copying of data from low-level domains to high-level domains. The requirements for certifiable, scalable, multi-level cloud security are threefold: 1) To have trusted, high-assurance components available for use in creating a multi-level secure cloud environment; 2) To design a cloud architecture that efficiently uses the high-assurance components in a scalable way, and 3) To compose the secure components within the scalable architecture while still verifiably maintaining the system security properties. This paper introduces a trusted, high-assurance file server and architecture that satisfies all three requirements. The file server is built on mature technology that was previously certified and deployed across domains from TS/SCI to Unclassified and that supports high-performance, low-to-high and high-to-low file sharing with verifiable security.