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DFAT to upgrade high security network

DFAT to upgrade high security network

Intrusion Prevention System to complement the Secure Australian Telecommunications and Information Network

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is to upgrade the security of its international communications network with an enterprise-grade Intrusion Prevention System (IPS).

The IPS will be deployed on the high security version of DFAT’s Secure Australian Telecommunications and Information Network (SATIN) and will be IPv6 compliant.

The SATIN ‘high’ network connects more than 130 sites across the globe and allows for the communication of data up to the ‘secret’ classification.

Services provided across this network include secure email, formal messaging, database applications, voice and video conferencing.

A secondary, SATIN ‘low’ network communicates data up to the ‘in confidence” classification.

According to DFAT documents, the upgrade to the SATIN high network is being prompted by the current transition of the network from a hub-and-spoke topology to being IP-based.

DFAT also plans to upgrade its client environment, pushing out a new desktop and terminal server standard operating environment (SOE) to the agency’s 6000 clients in the second half of 2011.

The Desktop SOE will be based on Windows 7 Enterprise and the Server SOE will be based on Window Server 2008 R2 64 bit Standard and Enterprise edition.

In January, DFAT said facial recognition would be an ongoing area of development in its increased use of biometric technology ahead of the planed launch of a biometrics panel to source specialised biometric support for the Australian Passport Office (APO) and to help develop its own in-house biometrics skills.

“The passport facial recognition solution has been integrated into the passport production workflow, providing real-time gallery results for every application and the system includes facial images from late 1999,” DFAT documents on the initiative read.

“Facial recognition was introduced as a way to help combat identity fraud and to help facilitate travel via the use of ePassports and now has over 12 million images enrolled.”

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Tags Secure Australian Telecommunications and Information Network (SATIN)Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)

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