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French Defense Ministry to adopt high-security Linux

French Defense Ministry to adopt high-security Linux

The French Ministry of Defense has awarded an US$8.6 million, three-year contract to a consortium of companies, including Paris-based Linux vendor Mandrakesoft, to develop a highly secure Linux operating system for business, defense and government uses.

In an announcement Thursday, the consortium said the new open-source operating system will meet Evaluation Assurance Level 5 of the ISO Common Criteria (CC-EAL5) security standards, which is aimed at satisfying major security requirements for defense, government and business applications.

Several other French companies are also involved in the consortium, including Bertin Technologies, independent laboratory Surlog, consulting vendor Oppida SA and software company Jaluna.

"Security is a major concern in today's embedded and networked computer systems, desktops and servers alike," Philippe Demigne, chairman of Bertin, said in a statement. "We are very proud to have been chosen by the French Ministry of Defense to manage this challenging project and to enrich operating systems with innovative security features."

Bertin Technologies will be responsible for the project's CC-EAL5 evaluation, according to the consortium.

Hardware partitioning and virtualization technologies are expected to be key parts of the effort, according to the group.

"Such a project makes the most of the open-source development model," Mandrakesoft CEO Francois Bancilhon said in a statement. "It will leverage the power of open-source, first by reusing a good deal of preexisting software, and second by letting the community survey and improve the code."

Mandrakesoft will contribute and adapt its Linux operating system for the project, which will be released under an open-source license following completion. Mandrakesoft will receive about US$1.2 million for its work.

Herve Hosy, CEO of Oppida, said in a statement that "certification against a recognized international standard is essential for users to trust the operating system they rely on for their operation. This is precisely Oppida's core expertise. We will perform regular evaluations of project intermediate results until the ultimate CC-EAL5 evaluation."

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