Operation Respond is in the process of establishing Virtual Private Network Connections with all of the participating railroad and motor carriers to transmit the live hazardous materials data contained in OREIS 5.0A. The VPN will establish a direct connection between the ORI server and the individual carrier's server. This is a very secure connection that allows ORI to transmit and receive sensitive data in the Internet environment in a safe manner.

Once the VPN connections are established, all data transmitted between the carrier's server and Operation Respond will be encrypted a second time and passed through a proxy at either side of the transmission. The Canadian National and CSX are currently working with Operation Respond to establish VPN connections and to establish their proxy servers. ORI is set to bring these carrier VPNs online as soon as each railroad completes their establishment.

Operation Respond has installed a Proxy server into the OREIS™ system to act as an additional firewall. This proxy is located at the front of the OREIS™ server and acts as a filter for the data being passed between Operation Respond and the railroad and motor carriers. The proxy directs all of the incoming traffic to the right location, while all machines within ORI are behind the firewall and all of the internal IP addresses are hidden from the outside.

For a railroad car inquiry within OREIS™ 5.0A, the data transmitted to and from the Operation Respond server is encrypted at several points to ensure that, if the data is somehow intercepted, it will not be understood. The encryption process essentially transforms information to an incomprehensible form before transmission and reinterprets that data to its original form after receipt. Data sent through OREIS is encrypted as it travels between the OREIS user and the ORI server as the request is initiated and as the data is passed back. Remember that all ORI obtains from the carrier is the STCC code.

Operation Respond employs a strict distribution system that ensures that OREIS™ is only available to the emergency response community. OREIS™ is only available to legitimate fire, police, EMS, emergency management and emergency dispatch agencies. ORI maintains a database of all OREIS™ users to facilitate these measures. Agency name, address, point-of-contact and contact information is kept current and accurate to ensure control over the user base.

A strict registration process ensures that OREIS™ is installed only at the proper location. Upon installation, all users are required to submit completed electronic registration form to ORI before they are able to access the system. This registration process includes a system of security checks that ensures the installing party matches the agency profile for that particular set of OREIS™. If the registration information does not match, the ORI server will not allow the user to access the program. In addition, all sets of OREIS™ are assigned a unique serial number. This serial number can only be used once to install the software on one workstation or laptop computer.

Another procedure used to confirm the legitimacy of the user is a requirement for the return to Operation Respond of a signed user license agreement. This document is matched with the original order and recorded in a master file.

With OREIS™ functioning through the ORI server , ORI will be providing to carriers quarterly statements describing system utilization.