Security for distributed SOA at the tactical edge

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) presents new paradigms for security and information assurance. Security processes for legacy systems are not sufficient to secure a distributed SOA. Yet, many of the new services arriving at the tactical edge for Fleet testing are based on web services—meaning that SOA is somewhat inevitable. This paper addresses some of the challenges encountered when testing SOA in live Fleet operations and in controlled laboratory experiments. Discussion of SOA capabilities is followed by a case study that uses them to determine the source of a latency failure under expected user tactical load. The case study concerns performance issues encountered in both field and laboratory experiments when implementing certificates to secure web services in distributed service-based tactical workflow automation.