Defense Message System

At the client level, DMS looks like a typical e-mail application and is designed to feature familiar user-friendly functionality, such as global X.500 Directory Service, and transmission support for digital files of any type and size. Security and delivery assurance mechanisms are approved by the National Security Agency (NSA) for information classified at all levels, up to and including those designated as top secret. Because sending message attachments between the unclassified and secret domains (known, respectively, as NIPRNET and SIPRNET) requires protection against leakage of classified information, DMS policies require that all organizational messages be signed and encrypted with Class IV Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) protection through Fortezza, NSA's trademarked security products suite. Originally policies permitted organizational message attachments to be sent only from a low security domain to a high security domain, but security mechanisms (both technological and policy-based) are now in place to allow the information to flow in either direction.

DMS was designed to incorporate components from a variety of leading hardware and software vendors and to leverage the best current and emerging messaging technologies within the Defense Information Infrastructure (DII, a worldwide connectivity transport infrastructure). The DMS development program began in response to Joint Staff requirements for an integrated messaging service that could be accessed from any DoD location in the world, as well as by designated government users or contractors. DMS has been recommended to become the standard messaging system throughout the United States government.

Learn more about Email Security Guidelines, Encryption and Appliances

Do you have something to add to this definition? Let us know. Send your comments to techterms@whatis.com

More resources from around the web: - DISA provides a DMS Public Access Web Site. - Lockheed Martin also maintains a page about DMS.

FILE EXTENSION AND FILE FORMAT LIST File Extension and File Format List: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

RELATED CONTENT How to confirm the receipt of an email with security protocols Many websites try to ensure secure registrations by sending email confirmations. But how is it possible to confirm receipt of that email by the... Best Email Security Products Readers vote on the best antispam, antiphishing, email antivirus and antimalware filtering, software and appliance products, as well as hosted... Can an IP spoofing tool be used to spam SPF servers? Michael Cobb explains what the Sender Policy Framework can and cannot protect against, including IP spoofing attacks.

RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary asymmetric cryptography  (SearchSecurity.com) Asymmetric cryptography is cryptography in which a pair of keys is used to encrypt and decrypt a message so that it arrives securely. Initially, a... challenge-response system  (SearchSecurity.com)