A New Security Model for Networks and the Internet Dan Thomsen Type enforcement is a new security mechanism that can be used as the basic security building block for a large number of systems in which security is an important factor. One of the most critical areas requiring protection is the system firewalls. Firewalls are the equivalent of walls around a castle and are under constant attack from external forces. Installing software to protect the network will not be effective if the software runs on a platform that cannot protect itself. It is like building the castle walls on a swamp.
Computer security is a matter of controlling how data are shared for reading and modifying.
Only one person using an isolated computer is completely secure. However, people inside and outside of the organization need to share information. Type enforcement allows a computer to be divided into separate compartments, basically having a number of isolated computers inside of a single computer. Because the compartments are in a single computer, the process of sharing information among compartments can be controlled by type enforcement. Most secure systems are difficult to work with and require extra development time.