TeleWall passes with flying colors

TeleWall, a firewall for phone and fax lines, proved overwhelmingly successful

in a recently completed evaluation by the Air Force Information Warfare

Battlelab, according to Air Force officials.

The Information Warfare Battlelab, at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, is

one of many military battlelabs that evaluate commercial technologies for

possible purchase.

Over 18 months, the Air Force installed TeleWall at three U.S. Space

Command sites in Colorado: Peterson Air Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain and

Schriever Air Force Base. TeleWall far exceeded the advertised performance,

Air Force officials said.

"TeleWall worked better than we ever expected it to," said Michael Jackowski,

technical director for the Information Warfare Battlelab. "We went out with

a certain set of objectives, and the systems performed 170 percent beyond

what it should have done."

TeleWall, produced by SecureLogix Corp., San Antonio, Texas, scans telecom

networks for unsecured modem, fax and phone lines that could provide hackers

with a back door into an agency's computer network.

Jackowski stressed that TeleWall is neither an intrusion-detection nor

a listening device, but it does monitor network traffic and files automatic

reports on connections made from one phone, fax or modem line to another.

Battlelab officials in September reported the results to the Air Force

Oversight Counsel, which will decide whether to purchase TeleWall for Air

Force bases.

TeleWall didn't fare as well in the recent Joint Warfighter Interoperability

Demonstration, a massive exercise to demonstrate commercial information

technologies for possible Defense Department purchase.

JWID officials chose two technologies as so-called golden nuggets, and

TeleWall was not one. Still, Jackowski said he believes the technology could

prove valuable in the joint arena because it is effective, inexpensive,

simple, easy-to-install and a "doggone good technology."