Government Secure Voice Architecture

Abstract

This project, intended to design, install, test and document a Secure Voice Architecture kicked off November 12th, 2020. This project brings together a set of Principle Investigators known to be leaders in the voice services, testing and security. Dr. Walt Magnussen, who has 25 years of experience in VoIP systems and Mr. Michael Fox who also has 25 years of experience in VoIP systems and leads all the operational aspects of the Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC) led this project. Dr. Henning Schulzrinne from Columbia University is one of the principal authors of the SIP standards and Dr. Eman Hammad from TAMU (Texas A&M University) Commerce provided the Cybersecurity expertise. The project was managed by Ms. Anjuli “A.J.” Renold also from ITEC. The project required the installation of a testbed designed to emulate three separate agencies using voice systems used by federal agencies today. After discussion and review of federal agency systems, the team identified Cisco Call Manager, Avaya Aura and BroadSoft (now Cisco BroadWorks) solutions. Many agencies use service provider VoIP services, also referred to as Centrex. The BroadWorks solution provides core voice networks for AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen. Utilizing the testbed, the team installed and assessed each of the attributes of the architecture. The lab testbed extended over IPsec tunnels to Columbia University and to TAMU Commerce to allow access for the Co-PIs and their teams. The team hosted a virtual and in-person stakeholder meeting in Washington DC to present findings. A summary of the findings is available on the ITEC website. The team also briefed FCC (Federal Communications Commission) on STIR/SHAKEN, part of the architecture. ITEC coordinated monthly status meetings between Texas A&M University, TAMU Commerce, Columbia University and the AFRL. ITEC submitted quarterly in-depth technical reports to AFRL, including development progress and next steps for the coming quarter.