The Non-classified Internet Protocol (IP) Router Network¹ (NIPRNet) is an IP network used to exchange unclassified information, including information subject to controls on distribution,² among the private network's users. The NIPRNet also provides its users access to the Internet.

For other uses of "NIPR", see NIPR (disambiguation).

It is one of the United States Department of Defense's three main networks. The others include SIPRNet and JWICS.³

History

NIPRNet is composed of Internet Protocol routers owned by the United States Department of Defense (DOD). It was created in the 1980s and managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to supersede the earlier MILNET.⁴

Security improvements

In the year leading up to 2010 NIPRNet has grown faster than the U.S. Department of Defense can monitor. DoD spent $10 million in 2010 to map out the current state of the NIPRNet, in an effort to analyze its expansion, and identify unauthorized users, who are suspected to have quietly joined the network.⁴ The NIPRNet survey, which uses IPSonar software developed by Lumeta Corporation, also looked for weaknesses in security caused by network configuration.⁵ The Department of Defense has made a major effort in the year leading up to 2010, to improve network security. The Pentagon announced it was requesting $2.3 billion in the 2012 budget to bolster network security within the Defense Department and to strengthen ties with its counterparts at the Department of Homeland Security.⁶

Alternative names

SIPRNet and NIPRNet are referred to colloquially as SIPPERnet and NIPPERnet (or simply sipper and nipper), respectively.⁷⁸

References

1DISA acronym list
2DISA website, "Sensitive but Unclassified IP Data (formerly known as NIPRNet)"
3Clarke, R. A., Knake, R. K. (2012) Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to do About it. New York, United States: HarperCollins.
4Anon, "Lost in the NIPRNET", January 2010, (Accessed 19 April 2011, 6:01pm PST)
5Mapping the Pentagon's Networks | Defense News^{[link removed]}. defensenews.com (24 February 2014). Retrieved 2014-04-12.
6""Pentagon seeks $3.2 billion for revised cyber budget" March, 2011 (Accessed 19 April 2011)". Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
7"Definition of NIPRNet". PCMag. n.d. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
8Harold F. Tipton; Micki Krause Nozaki (2010). Information Security Management Handbook, Volume 4 (6th ed.). CRC Press. p. 67. ISBN 9781439819036.

External links

Study aids for NIPRNet

Terminology

Non-classified Internet Protocol (IP) Router Network: The Non-classified Internet Protocol (IP) Router Network (NIPRNet) is an IP network used to exchange unclassified information, including information subject to controls on distribution, among the private network's users.

Terms the article defines in bold, quoted in context.

Recent changes

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