Viasat Releases New Security Capabilities for Global Naval Forces

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Viasat Inc., a global communications company, has made new security capabilities available for U.S. and international Five Eyes (FVEY) naval forces, the company said in an Oct. 2 release.

Viasat introduced its integrated Mobile Dynamic Defense (MDD) cybersecurity software for use at sea to securely capture and distribute sensitive data to onshore counterparts and defend against rapidly evolving cyber threats during a maritime mission.

MDD is highly valuable for maritime platforms because of its ability to provide the necessary policy enforcement and in-mission configuration flexibility without a connection to a remote management system by using the information assurance “Defense in Depth” model, which weaves together multiple layers of security controls and countermeasures. This model enables the Viasat MDD platform to ensure sensitive information hosted on the end user device (EUD) is continually checked and protected from compromise — even if the EUD is disconnected from the military operations center.

“Hackers are increasingly looking to compromise mobile devices as a way to gain access to classified government and military data,” said Ken Peterman, president, Government Systems, Viasat. “By providing Viasat’s MDD software, naval personnel now have the ability to provision and configure devices as a mission changes — which can help secure highly-sensitive mission information and defend against emerging cyber threats — even at sea.”

MDD software is an integral component of Viasat’s comprehensive cybersecurity platform, which analyzes terabits of data across commercial and government networks on a daily basis to defend against some of the world’s most sophisticated cyber threats. Viasat currently offers secure, high-speed and resilient satellite communications-enabled services via its Hybrid Adaptive Network concept for a range of U.S. and FVEY military operations.

Viasat’s MDD security capabilities are now authorized for purchase by naval and maritime customers in the Five Eyes countries: United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.