The only commercial products currently approved to transmit classified information up to Top Secret are the SecNet 54, made by Harris Corporation, and the Talon KOV-26, made by L3 Communications. These are the only encryption products that comply with the US Department of Defence’s Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) for wireless communications. In 2004, the DoD issued a wireless defence order stipulating that all branches of the military, as well as contractors and visitors, must only use secure commercial wireless equipment and services. This order came in the wake of concerns about the security of information due to the fact that unencrypted traffic on wireless Local Area Networks (LANs) can be easily intercepted through a form of hacking known as "sniffing”. Because of the high security needs of the DoD, there are numerous and rigorous checks any new product must be subjected to in order to be approved for use. The National Security Agency (NSA) runs a specialised evaluation program, the Commercial COMSEC Evaluation Program (CEEP), in partnership with the DoD in order to determine the suitability of a potential product. Both the SecNet 54 and the Talon KOV-26 are certified as Type 1 encryption devices by the NSA and support the High Assurance Internet Protocol Interoperability Specification (HAPIS) for High Assurance Protocal Encryptors. They are therefore approved to transmit classified information up to Top Secret. Information classified up to Secret may also be encrypted using the Harris Corporation’s SecNet 11.
