A bilateral data transfer system comprising a first node, a second node, a first one-way link for unidirectional transfer of first data from the first node to the second node, and a second one-way link for unidirectional transfer of second data from the second node to the first node, wherein the unidirectional transfer of the first data across the first one-way link and the unidirectional transfer of the second data across the second one-way link are independently administered by the bilateral data transfer system. Under such bilateral data transfer system, each of the one-way data links may be subject to separately administered security restrictions and data filtering processes, enabling secure bilateral communications across different network security domains.