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Date:      Wed, 09 Oct 2002 13:08:46 -0400
From:      "Nelson, Trent ." <tnelson@switch.com>
To:        "'chromexa@ovis.net'" <chromexa@ovis.net>, "Nelson, Trent ." <tnelson@switch.com>
Cc:        "'hackers@freebsd.org'" <hackers@freebsd.org>
Subject:   RE: FreeBSD usage in safety-critical environments
Message-ID:  <8F329FEDF58BD411BE5200508B10DA7607D71A12@exchptc1.switch.com>

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[Taken off questions@]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Kudlak [mailto:chromexa@ovis.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 6:08 PM
> To: Nelson, Trent .
> Cc: 'hackers@freebsd.org'; 'questions@freebsd.org'
> Subject: Re: FreeBSD usage in safety-critical environments
> 
> 
> 
> "Nelson, Trent ." wrote:
> 
> > [Please include me directly as I'm not on the list]
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> >         Has anyone had any experience with deploying FreeBSD in
> > safety-critical environments?  Has any work been done attempting to
> certify
> > FreeBSD to any particular SIL?  Is there any intention to do such a
> thing?
> >
> >         If not FreeBSD, I'd be interested to hear if any has had
> exposure to
> > other BSD flavors being used in safety-critical environments.
> >
> >         I've just been shown a report at work that has been commissioned
> by
> > the UK Health & Safety Executives and sponsored by the UK Ministry of
> > Defense and Safety Regulation Group of the UK Civil Aviation Authority
> > undertaking a preliminary assessment of Linux for safety-related
> systems.
> > The report 'identifies' that it would be possible to certify Linux to
> SIL 1
> > and SIL 2 quite easily, and SIL 3 with a little work.
> >
> >         I'd hate to think that this would be an arena where BSD couldn't
> > compete.  I'd also hate to think that the tendency for big players such
> as
> > the MoD or DoD etc to lean towards Linux is based on the general Linux
> > 'hype', rather than technical merit...
> >
> >         Regards,
> >
> >                 Trent.
> >
> > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
> > with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
> 
> Well I don't know if this belongs on questions or hackers but the
> question has enough technical merit to be interesting. For example
> to what level has BSD been certified. I remember doing this consulting
> project and mucking with the "low grade" in  my opinion C-2 security
> that Sun OSes had and finding bugs in things like FTP logging and
> the like. I now do other things so I don't worry about that. :) But it
> is an interesting issue. I wonder if we should move it to chat?

	If you're referring to security criteria (Trusted Computer Security
Evaluation Criteria or ITSEC for Euro/UK), then no, FreeBSD doesn't
currently provide any features C2/F-C2+ configuration (Access Control Lists,
auditing, accountability, etc).  This is being tackled by TrustedBSD though,
which I'm sure Robert Watson can provide some more information on.

	Although they are inter-related, the safety integrity level of the
system is what I was really querying.  That tends to bring in a whole host
of metrics such as error and exception handling, standard failure modes,
MTBF, etc etc.

> 
> Have Fun,
> Sends Steve

	Regards,

		Trent.

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