Security in transnational interoperable PPDR communications: Threats and requirements

The relevance of cross border security operations has been identified as a priority at European level for a long time. A European network where Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) forces share communications processes and a legal framework would greatly enforce response to disaster recovery and security against crime. Nevertheless, uncertainty on costs, timescale and functionalities have slowed down the interconnection of PPDR networks across countries and limited the transnational cooperation of their PPDR forces so far. In this context, the European research project ISITEP is aimed at developing the legal, operational and technical framework to achieve a cost effective solution for PPDR interoperability across European countries. Inter alia, ISITEP project is specifying a new Inter-System-Interface (ISI) interface for the interconnection of current TETRA and TETRAPOL networks that can be deployed over Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity. This approach turns communications security as a central aspect to consider when deploying the new IP ISI protocol between PPDR national networks. Ensuring that threats to the interconnected communications systems and terminals are sufficiently and appropriately reduced by technical, procedural and environmental countermeasures is vital to realise the trusted and secure communication system needed for the pursued PPDR transnational cooperation activities. In this context, this paper describes the framework and methodology defined to carry out the development of the security requirements and provides a discussion on the undertaken security risk and vulnerability analysis.