A peer-to-peer architecture for secure data storage with query

Net-centric information systems such as the Air Force's Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) require a secure, scalable, object repository to support the vision of a globally accessible, secure, distributed information "space." Peer-to-peer (P2P) technology holds significant promise for these large-scale information repositories because of its demonstrated scalability and robustness. The development of a P2P object repository poses significant challenges: distributed query processing and security. This paper presents and discusses ORIS, a peer-to-peer object repository that not only stores objects but also supports database-type queries. The ORIS P2P technology ensures resilience and scalability and also employs secret sharing techniques and access control to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of objects even if a number of peers are physically or clandestinely compromised by an enemy attack. The Air Force Research Laboratory has developed the Distributed Information Enterprise Modeling and Simulation (DIEMS) framework that efficiently supports the modeling and simulation of large globally distributed computer networks. DIEMS has been used to model prototypes of the JBI and is currently being used to assess the system performance, scalability, and survivability of ORIS. Preliminary results indicate query performance to be acceptable given an adequate network 14 configuration. We also present the results of this modeling and simulation assessment.