On Distributed Communications:

IX. Security, Secrecy, and Tamper-Free Considerations

Paul Baran

ResearchPublished 1964

One in a series of eleven Memoranda detailing the Distributed Adaptive Message Block Network, a proposed digital data communications system based on a distributed network concept. It considers the security aspects of such a system, in which secrecy is of great importance. Present security concepts are based on an implied assumption that any "cleared" person must be trusted and that any "uncleared" person is a potential spy. Further, information is either classified or not. From time to time one wonders if these binary attitudes are really a valid basis on which to predicate a military communications systems. This Memorandum, in which the underlying concepts and resulting safeguards to be built into the network are described, is written on the basis of fully anticipating the existance of spies within our ostensibly secure communications secrecy protection structure; hence, our primary interest is in raising the price of espied information to an excessive level.

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  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Available
  • Year: 1964
  • Print Format: Paperback
  • Paperback Pages: 51
  • Paperback Price: $23.00
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RM3765
  • Document Number: RM-3765-PR

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RAND Style Manual
Baran, Paul, On Distributed Communications:: IX. Security, Secrecy, and Tamper-Free Considerations, RAND Corporation, RM-3765-PR, 1964. As of September 17, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM3765.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Baran, Paul, On Distributed Communications:: IX. Security, Secrecy, and Tamper-Free Considerations. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1964. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM3765.html. Also available in print form.
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This research is sponsored by the United States Air Force under Project RAND-Contract No. AF 49(638)-700 monitored by the Directorate of Development Plans, Deputy Chief of Staff, Research and Development, Hq USAF.

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