Secure Messaging Gateway
Integrated messaging security package
- The Secure Messaging Gateway (SMG) acts
as a "Messaging Firewall"
- Provides additional controls and
security for delivery of messages within a private network and
to other networks
- Uses "Closed User Group"
techniques for message delivery authorisation
- Uses "Route Authentication"
to ensure validity of traffic originating from remote MTAs
- Prevents rogue or hostile remote
MTAs over-loading the SMG communications
- Alarms system provides an immediate
indication of notable or critical events, including Security violations
- Alarms may be monitored remotely
by the Route400 Central Management Station
- Accounting and Archiving provides
a record of all message traffic for billing and audit purposes
- The optional Document Converter
allows built-in implementation of security, confidentiality and
virus checks
The Route400 Secure Messaging Gateway (SMG)
allows users of a private network to exchange electronic messages
with particular users and systems within and outside their network
in a secure and controlled manner. The SMG functions as part of
a normal Route400 Message Server (MTA),
routing messages between other connected MTAs and Gateways, but
includes additional security controls. These allow system administrators
to establish policies specifying which groups of users are permitted
to communicate with particular destinations (users or MTAs). The
SMG will then enforce these policies, logging any attempted violations
and setting an alarm. Facilities are also provided to prevent
communications overloads and for logging messaging details for
billing and audit.
Based on "Closed User Group"
techniques, internal security is maintained whilst enabling communication
with the outside world. Messages are vetted by the SMG to check
their authorisation before they are sent on to their destinations.
Only authorised messages are allowed through the gateway, any
unauthorised messages being rejected. A complete audit trail is
provided together with an alarm function which gives the system
administrator immediate warning of an attempted security violation.
It is also possible to inspect the contents of all messages passing
through, for example to reject messages containing viruses. Using
these various methods, the SMG acts as a messaging firewall.
All of the security features which are
a part of the SMG are enabled automatically during installation.
They are available as separate optional items, but are more useful
if combined as a total package. The SMG is available on Windows
3.1, 95 and NT, OS/2 Warp and all Route400 supported UNIX platforms.
Access Control/Security
- Closed User Groups (CUGs) are defined
to control which users within and outside the network may exchange
messages through the SMG
- A CUG consists of one group of originators
plus one or more groups of recipients. A message is authorised
if both the originator and recipient belong to the same CUG
- CUGs are configured through the
standard, user friendly, Configuration Manager interface
- The SMG will generate non-Delivery
Reports (if requested) for unauthorised originator/recipient pairs
- Route Authentication provides a
further check to ensure that the originator address of a message
received from a remote MTA is compatible with the configured address
details for that MTA, validating the authenticity of the message
- The Route Authentication feature
prevents a remote MTA masquerading as an authentic message source
- The Closed User Group feature prevents
unauthorised messages entering or leaving the secure network
Hostile MTA load control
- Prevents a rogue or hostile remote
MTA from "flooding" the communications capacity of the
SMG
- Provides a maximum number of simultaneous
incoming associations allowed for a remote MTA to be configured
on a global or individual MTA basis
- Additional incoming association
attempts are rejected (on a temporary basis) allowing the MTA
capacity to be shared evenly between all incoming requesters
Alarms
- Provides an immediate indication
of a range of notable or critical MHS events particularly with
regard to security in the SMG
- Complements CUGs and Route Authentication
for which specific alarms are raised
- Alarms raised for other Security
violations e.g. MTA validation, and User authorisation errors
- Alarms raised for Resource problems
e.g. lack of disc space, loss of file system, internal resources
etc
- Alarms raised for Interworking/OSI
problems e.g. communications failures or protocol errors
- Alarms raised for Configuration
problems e.g. unrecognised MTA names or passwords
- Alarms raised from application programs
outside the MTA can also be integrated within the SMG alarm system
- Each alarm has a unique reference
number (i.e. 001-255)
- Up to 255 alarms may be outstanding
at any one time
- Outstanding alarms are remembered
between SMG restarts
- Outstanding alarms can be cleared
by the administrator
- Alarm information may be accessed
remotely by the Central Management Station
Accounting
- Provides detailed trace of all messages
passing through the SMG
- Can be used as part of a security
audit system, as well as for billing and performance evaluation
- Accounting record generation is
administrator configurable
- Directory which will be used for
accounting may be specified
- Maximum size for each accounting
log file may be specified
- The number of days that the logs
will be preserved for inspection or archiving before auto-deletion
may be specified
- The format of Collection, Delivery,
Non Delivery, Header, Association, Bind, Unbind and MS Operation
records may be specified using freeform text
- The frequency with which new account
log files are created from daily to hourly may be specified
- Accounting information markers may
be specified within the configuration of accounting records to
request the required information, e.g. Message ID, Time, O/R Address
- Example billing program is provided
that scans files produced over a specified number of days and
produces billing/costing reports
- Calculates the total number and
"cost" of message bytes transferred for each originator
- The example billing program source
code is provided for administrator modification
Archiving
- Provides selective archive of all
messages passing through the SMG
- Message archive is administrator
configurable
- All messages entering the system
or those originating at or destined for specific MailBoxes may
be archived into a file
- Archive of whole messages or just
message envelopes may be configured
- If archiving file space is exhausted
a critical alarm is generated
- Special accounting markers are provided
to track and locate archived messages from the accounting records
- The archive directory and archive
file size is configurable
Message Content Security
- The optional Route400 Document Converter
may be used to inspect the content of selected or all messages
- Private encryption/decryption programs
may be applied to message contents
- Security/confidentiality scans (of
message content) can be performed
- Virus checks can be imposed
- Where it is necessary to run a Windows
program to perform the content check (and the selected SMG platform
is not Windows-based), the optional Route400 Document Conversion
Accelerator may be used
Standards, Profiles, Conformance
- Versions successfully conformance
tested to OSTC, UK GOSIP and US GOSIP
- Interoperability tested to all major
X.400 suppliers within EuroSInet, including Bull, Digital, HP,
IBM, ICL and Unisys
- In service operation connected to
public ADMD services such as AT&T, BT Gold 400, France Telecom
Atlas 400, IBM Mail Exchange, Mercury and Sprint International
- Accounting conforms to IAOG requirements
Multi-Platform Support
Route400 SMGs are available on industry
standard operating systems and major hardware platforms:
- Windows 3.1 and later, Windows 95 and Windows NT
- OS/2 Warp
- UNIX
- Digital Alpha OSF/1
- DG Aviion
- HP-UX v9 and v10
- IBM AIX v3 and v4
- ICL NX SPARC and x86
- SCO v4 and v5
- Sun Solaris SPARC and x86
- Stratus XA/R and Continuum
- Tandem S4000-Puma + FT
- Unisys UX
- Unixware v1 and v2
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