| Decisions regarding the employment of mobile code within a system are based on the potential for the code to cause damage to the system if used maliciously.
Mobile code is defined as software modules obtained from remote systems, transferred across a network, and then downloaded and executed on a local system without explicit installation or execution by the recipient.
DoD has identified prohibited mobile code in DoDI 8552.01 as: all Category 1X mobile code, unsigned Category 1A mobile code, Category 2 mobile code that violates usage requirements, all Emerging Technologies mobile code (all mobile code technologies, systems, platforms, or languages whose capabilities and threat level have not yet undergone a risk assessment and been assigned to a risk category), and all mobile code that downloads via an email body or email attachment that executes automatically when the user opens the email body or attachment.
Usage restrictions and implementation guidance apply to both the selection and use of mobile code installed, downloaded, or executed on all endpoints (e.g., servers, workstations, and smart phones). This requirement applies to networking elements that inspect or identify mobile code.
While ALG content filtering cannot replace the anti-virus and host based IDS (HIDS) protection installed on the network's endpoints, vendor or locally created ALG ACLs or policy filters can be implemented which provide preemptive defense against both known and zero day vulnerabilities. Many of the protections may provide defenses before vulnerabilities are discovered and ACLs or policy filters or blacklist updates are distributed by anti-virus or malicious code solution vendors. |
