Breaking down barriers to Ultra Secure Cross Domain Collaboration

Modern defence and national security operations depend on data moving quickly between people, organisations and systems. Yet the increasingly complex nature of today’s mission environment can make secure data sharing and collaboration more difficult.

Coalition partners, government agencies and operational teams often work across separate technology environments and different security classifications. These boundaries are essential for protecting sensitive data, but they can also slow its movement and prevent critical information from reaching the right people at the right time.

MindLink is working with Everfox to address this challenge, combining secure real-time messaging with high-assurance Cross Domain Solutions. Together, the technologies enable faster and more effective collaboration between classified networks, while maintaining strict security controls around sensitive data.

The cross domain data challenge

The future mission environment will bring together an increasingly diverse mix of national, international, military and inter-agency participants. Each organisation may operate within a separate network governed by its own security policies, data controls and classification requirements.

Without an effective way to connect these environments, personnel can be forced to work across multiple terminals and disconnected systems. This practice, sometimes described as “chair swivelling”, increases the burden on users and creates greater potential for delays, mistakes and inconsistent data handling.

Legacy import and export processes present another security challenge. Solutions designed primarily for moving individual files may be unable to support the granular, real-time exchange of data needed during fast-moving operations. In other cases, valuable information may not be shared at all because the security risk is considered too high or the technical process is too complex.

Defence and national security organisations must therefore strike a difficult balance. Highly classified data must be protected, but authorised personnel must also be able to access and exchange the information they need at operational speed.

Bringing MindLink and Everfox together

The integration between MindLink and Everfox is designed to support secure, real-time data sharing and collaboration across differently classified networks.

MindLink provides an ultra-secure chat messaging platform developed specifically for classified defence and national security environments. Its chat room functionality is combined with secure-by-design information assurance controls, enabling mission-critical communications at classifications up to TOP SECRET.

At the centre of the platform is MindLink’s data-centric security architecture. Rather than relying solely on the security of a network or device, data-centric security applies controls directly to the information itself. Data attributes, classification labels and user entitlements can therefore determine who is permitted to access or share each piece of information.

MindLink’s Federated Real-time Need-to-know Information eXchange protocol, or FRNIX, extends these capabilities across traditional mission network boundaries. Developed through the UK Defence and Security Accelerator programme and designed against Five Eyes Signals Intelligence requirements, FRNIX enables sensitive data to be exchanged between separate partner networks through air-gapped hardware components.

Everfox provides the secure bridge between those networks. Its Cross Domain Solutions facilitate the automated transfer of data from one security domain to another, supporting scenarios ranging from communications between national and coalition networks to connections involving Secret, TOP SECRET and unclassified environments.

Together, the technologies allow authorised users on differently classified networks to participate in shared MindLink chat rooms, while security controls continue to govern the movement and releasability of data across the domain boundary.

Building security into the data flow

Real-time communications are highly sensitive to bandwidth and latency. Any cross domain security approach must therefore verify data thoroughly without creating delays that undermine its operational value.

The joint MindLink and Everfox solution addresses this through a combination of MindLink’s data-centric security controls and Everfox’s hardware-based verification technology. As information passes through the Everfox Cross Domain Solution, the data is extracted from its original format and represented in a Verifiable Data Structure. It can then be validated at line speed using the Everfox High Speed Verifier before being converted back into a format that the destination MindLink system can understand.

This security process creates both a protocol break and a data break. A protocol break helps prevent attacks delivered through the communications protocol, while a data break addresses threats concealed within the information itself. Data filtering, validation and contextual checks provide additional protection before content reaches the destination network.

The solution can also apply automated label checking to prevent data from leaving its source network when it is not authorised for release. Messages containing restricted classifications, sensitive codenames or other protected information can be blocked before crossing the security perimeter.

Supporting Zero Trust collaboration

The integration reflects the principles of Zero Trust security, where access is never assumed simply because a user or system is operating within a particular network.

MindLink’s data labelling and entitlement-based security controls continually assess whether information can be shared with a particular user or across a specific domain. Its asymmetric federation architecture also supports the “browse down, share up” model, helping defence and national security organisations maintain data sovereignty and control where sensitive information is stored.

This enables more precise data protection than a broad allow-or-deny approach. Authorised users can exchange the information needed to support the mission, while security controls remain in place to reduce the risks of data compromise, accidental disclosure and spillage. The result is a unified communications environment that can improve operational agility without weakening the security boundaries protecting classified data and systems.

Extending secure data sharing beyond defence

The need to exchange sensitive data across organisational and network boundaries extends beyond Five Eyes and NATO defence environments. Central government, policing, intelligence organisations and companies within the defence supply chain may all need to collaborate across separate security domains. Similar data and security challenges also exist in highly regulated commercial sectors, where organisations must combine rapid communication with strict control over sensitive information.

By bringing together MindLink’s secure messaging and data-centric security capabilities with Everfox’s Cross Domain Solutions, the collaboration provides a strong foundation for real-time information sharing across complex defence, government and national security environments.

As missions become more distributed and partnership-driven, secure collaboration can no longer stop at the network boundary. Data must reach the right people quickly, but it must do so with its security, classification and handling requirements intact.