Mobile system of the Armed Forces (OS MSVS): a protected general operating system

For sure, at least some of our readers have thought about what operating system is used in our Armed Forces. After all, we all understand that it can not stand on any missile complex on alert. Today, we will slightly open the veil of secrecy and tell about the OS of WSWS. This is the so-called mobile system of the Armed Forces. The sphere of application is called by its name, but we will tell you how it is structured in general terms.

Prerequisites for creation

For the first time, the security criteria for computer systems were formulated back in the late 60s of the last century. In the mid-80s in the US, all these developments were collected in one document. So the "Orange Book" of the Ministry of Defense was born - the first standard of computer systems security. Following these documents appeared in European countries and Canada. In 2005, on their basis, the international safety standard ISO / IEC 15408 "General security criteria" was prepared.

In Russia, similar studies were conducted in the 22nd Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense. The end result of the developments was the receipt in 2002 of the OSVSV OS in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The version of the state standard based on the requirements of ISO / IEC was adopted in 2008.

Why the military has its own OS

The operational systems that we use on a daily basis are not suitable for use in government structures in terms of security parameters. The State Commission at the President of the Russian Federation formulated them as follows:

• Information must be protected from unauthorized access, both from the inside and outside.
• The system should not contain undocumented features, in other words, there should not be any "Easter eggs" in the OS code.

In addition, a secure operating system must have a multi-level hierarchical access structure and separate administrative functions.

Thus, the task of creating a specialized closed OS is not as simple as it seems at first glance. The absence of undocumented features assumes that the source code and the technical description of all the work procedures will be thoroughly studied in the certification center. And this - the area of commercial secrets of the owners' corporations or the intellectual property of the developers. This paradox makes you turn your eyes towards open OS, because it's almost impossible to get full technical documentation for proprietary software.

Requirements of GOST R

FSTEC, as the service responsible for information security throughout the country, established the separation of the OS by the degree of protection of the information processed. For convenience, all data are combined in one table.

It can be seen from the table that, according to a number of requirements, three groups and nine classes of security against unauthorized access are installed, and already for them a further division is made for admission to various kinds of confidential information.

At the heart of Linux

What is so convenient for Linux, that it is willingly taken to serve in the state apparatus? After all, for the most part, ordinary users are afraid of it, like a devil's incense. Let's figure it out. First, let's pay attention to the license, under which "Linux" is distributed. This so-called GPL2 is a universal public, or free, license. Anyone can get the source code and on its basis create your own product. In other words, no one bothers to take the best Linux distributions and use them to develop their own protected OS.

World experience of work of state institutions shows that the transition to free software is everywhere, the idea is in demand and quite justifies itself. Leading countries of the world, such as the US, Germany, Japan and China and India, which are rapidly approaching, actively use Linux in state statistics and education.

WSWS and its contents

The mobile system of the Armed Forces version 3.0 has been working in the army for fifteen years, to replace it now comes a more perfect product, and we can safely glance "under the hood" to the veteran. So, this is a network OS that runs in multi-user mode using a graphical user interface. Supports hardware platforms:

• Intel.

• SPAPC / Elbrus.

• MIPS.

• IBM System / 390.

It is based on the best Linux distributions available at that time. Many modules of the system were borrowed from RedHat Linux and recompiled in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Defense. In other words, the mobile system of the Armed Forces is an RPM Linux distribution with all the accompanying application programs and development tools.

Support for file systems is at the level of the beginning of the century, but since the most common ones then existed, this indicator is not critical.

Versions of WSWS

Despite the fact that this is a network OS, it does not have any software repositories familiar to any Linux software. All software is included in the set on the installation CD. Any program that is used in this system is preliminarily certified by the Ministry of Defense. And since the procedure is far from quick, for all fifteen years of work a limited number of versions and changes to them have been issued.

The developer of MSVS is the All-Russian Research Institute for Automation Management in the non-industrial sphere. On its official page, you can find data on versions of the WSWS, which are currently supported and have the required security certificates from the Ministry of Defense.

The mobile system of the Armed Forces for 2017 is represented by two supported assemblies:

• OS MSVS 3.0 FLIR 80001-12 (change No. 4).

• OS MSVS 3.0 FLIR 80001-12 (change No. 6).

Version 5.0, which is on the site of VNIINS, has a MO safety certificate, but was not officially accepted for supply to the troops.

Successor to WSWS

The next secure OS, which was introduced as a replacement for the last half decade of WSWS, was the Astra Linux OS. Unlike its predecessor, which received a safety certificate only from the Ministry of Defense, Astra received all possible certificates in Russia, and these are documents from the Defense Ministry, the FSB and FSTEC. Due to this, it can be used in any state bodies, and the availability of several versions adapted for different hardware platforms further extends its scope of application. As a result, it can unite under its control all devices - from mobile to fixed server equipment.

Astra Linux is a modern Linux distribution based on deb packages, it uses the latest kernel version and the current software. The list of supported processors and their architectures is also extended and includes modern samples. The list of officially published versions allows to hope for the success of this software product, at least in state statistics and defense.

Finally

In this article, we talked about the OSVSU OS - the main operating system of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which served faithfully and truthfully "in service" for 15 years and is still in the "military post". In addition, she was briefly described as her successor. Perhaps one of our readers will push it to see what Linux is and make an impartial opinion about the product.