The Common Criteria (CC) Certification scheme, also known as ISO standard 15408, was developed in 1999 as the international standard replacing the older C2 rating by the National Computer Security Center (NCSC). Common Criteria is a worldwide standard that was co-developed by national security organizations in the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and The Netherlands.
Common Criteria provides a comprehensive range of evaluation criteria for government-use installations and corporate security products, and has been adopted by most major software vendors.
The Common Criteria certification process has 7 levels, referred to as Evaluation Assurance Levels (EAL’s). The highest level that a firewall can obtain is CC EAL4+. To become certified, a product must undergo and pass over 150 unique tests, a process that can take up to 1 year to complete at a cost of up to $1 million. Such expense and cost required to validate a product at a CC EAL4+ level gives customers an indication of the stability of the organization seeking certification and the quality of its products.
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