Secure64 Software
Encyclopedia
Secure64 Software Corporation is a software development company headquartered in Greenwood Village, CO
, USA, building secure, self-protecting, high performing server applications.
and PA-WideWord technologies. Secure64 has filed for several patent
s.
server hardware, and provides the foundation for Secure64 software applications. Secure64 uses the term "micro OS" to describe SourceT, because, although it shares attributes of traditional microkernel
s and monolithic kernel
s, it is does not fit the classical definition of either.
Like microkernels, SourceT adheres to the principles that minimal code should execute in kernel mode (currently less than 4,000 lines of code in SourceT), and that all applications and operating system services such as File system
, device drivers and protocol stack
s should not execute in kernel mode. However, like monolithic kernel architectures, SourceT's operating system services are accessed through system service calls rather than through interprocess communication with user-mode servers.
Unlike general-purpose operating system
s, which are designed to execute on a wide variety of hardware platforms, SourceT was specifically designed to take advantage of some of the unique security and performance features of the Itanium microprocessor to create a high performance, highly secure architecture. These unique Itanium features include:
The patent application filed in 2004 details the foundation for this secure architecture.
architecture, the network stack accelerates network I/O performance and automatically detects and drops malformed or flooding packets, such as those received as the victim of a Denial-of-service attack
s.
Queued, asynchronous communication architecture interface US Patent Application: 20060104295
Operating system capable of supporting a customized execution environment US Patent Application: 20040177342
-hardened commercial DNS
appliances
, deployed on a proprietary 64-bit
operating system
running on Intel Itanium
hardware
.
ExtremeLabs report on Secure64 DNS Authority: Performance and Security
ExtremeLabs report on Secure64 DNS Authority: Availability Under Attack
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, USA, building secure, self-protecting, high performing server applications.
History
Secure64 was founded in 2002 and began full-scale development in 2005. Its founders include Bill Worley, CTO, a former chief scientist of Hewlett Packard and lead developer of PA-RISCPA-RISC
PA-RISC is an instruction set architecture developed by Hewlett-Packard. As the name implies, it is a reduced instruction set computer architecture, where the PA stands for Precision Architecture...
and PA-WideWord technologies. Secure64 has filed for several patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s.
SourceT Micro OS
The SourceT Micro OS executes on standard ItaniumItanium
Itanium is a family of 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture . Intel markets the processors for enterprise servers and high-performance computing systems...
server hardware, and provides the foundation for Secure64 software applications. Secure64 uses the term "micro OS" to describe SourceT, because, although it shares attributes of traditional microkernel
Microkernel
In computer science, a microkernel is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system . These mechanisms include low-level address space management, thread management, and inter-process communication...
s and monolithic kernel
Monolithic kernel
A monolithic kernel is an operating system architecture where the entire operating system is working in the kernel space and alone as supervisor mode...
s, it is does not fit the classical definition of either.
Like microkernels, SourceT adheres to the principles that minimal code should execute in kernel mode (currently less than 4,000 lines of code in SourceT), and that all applications and operating system services such as File system
File system
A file system is a means to organize data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available space on the device which contain it. A file system organizes data in an efficient manner and is tuned to the...
, device drivers and protocol stack
Protocol stack
The protocol stack is an implementation of a computer networking protocol suite. The terms are often used interchangeably. Strictly speaking, the suite is the definition of the protocols, and the stack is the software implementation of them....
s should not execute in kernel mode. However, like monolithic kernel architectures, SourceT's operating system services are accessed through system service calls rather than through interprocess communication with user-mode servers.
Unlike general-purpose operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s, which are designed to execute on a wide variety of hardware platforms, SourceT was specifically designed to take advantage of some of the unique security and performance features of the Itanium microprocessor to create a high performance, highly secure architecture. These unique Itanium features include:
- Completely independent read/write/execute privileges on memory pages
- Hardware controlled memory compartments with protection IDs
- Separation of control information from data on system stacks
- Inability to execute code from system stacks
- High performance from instruction level parallelism
The patent application filed in 2004 details the foundation for this secure architecture.
Self-Protecting Network Stack
Secure64 has a patent pending for the queued, non-blocking and self-protecting communications architecture used by SourceT. Designed from the ground up with a queued, scalable architecture that differs significantly from a traditional Berkeley socketsBerkeley sockets
The Berkeley sockets application programming interface comprises a library for developing applications in the C programming language that perform inter-process communication, most commonly for communications across a computer network....
architecture, the network stack accelerates network I/O performance and automatically detects and drops malformed or flooding packets, such as those received as the victim of a Denial-of-service attack
Denial-of-service attack
A denial-of-service attack or distributed denial-of-service attack is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users...
s.
Patent Applications
Customized execution environment (SourceT) Secure64 US Patent Application: 20040177243Queued, asynchronous communication architecture interface US Patent Application: 20060104295
Operating system capable of supporting a customized execution environment US Patent Application: 20040177342
Products
Secure64 DNS products are securityComputer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
-hardened commercial DNS
Domain name system
The Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...
appliances
Computer appliance
A computer appliance is generally a separate and discrete hardware device with integrated software , specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. These devices became known as "appliances" because of their similarity to home appliances, which are generally "closed and sealed" –...
, deployed on a proprietary 64-bit
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
running on Intel Itanium
Itanium
Itanium is a family of 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture . Intel markets the processors for enterprise servers and high-performance computing systems...
hardware
Computer hardware
Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...
.
Secure64 DNS Authority
Secure64 DNS Authority is authoritative DNS server software built on the SourceT micro OS.ExtremeLabs report on Secure64 DNS Authority: Performance and Security
ExtremeLabs report on Secure64 DNS Authority: Availability Under Attack