RE: Firewalls - ITSEC Rating?

From: Lemon, Henry L. (LemonHLat_private)
Date: Thu Feb 03 2000 - 11:01:05 PST

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    What is Common Criteria EAL4 Certification and should we care?  How does it
    fit in with ITSEC and ICSA?  Does any of this matter really?
    
    Henry Lemon		mailto:LemonHLat_private
    Aristech Chemical Corporation c=US;a=MCI;p=Aristech;s=Lemon;g=Henry
    phone:	412-433-7835
    fax:	412-467-2001  
    
    
    
    -----Original Message-----
    From: Marcus J. Ranum [mailto:mjrat_private]
    Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2000 11:31 AM
    To: Rick Smith; Craig Martin; firewall-wizardsat_private
    Subject: Re: Firewalls - ITSEC Rating?
    
    
    
    >The ITSEC evaluation says that the product met the requirements documented
    >in its "Security Target" document.
    
    Right, if I understand correctly, it's a lot like those ISO9000
    deals - you're evaluated on whether or not you actually do what
    you claim to do. And, since everyone's claims can be subtly
    different, in the end the evaluation is useless because a user
    of the evaluated product has to re-evaluate the product to see
    if the claims make sense for their purpose.
    
    I once thought about trying to get a 10baseT hub ITSEC evaluated
    as a firewall (albeit a very permissive one) but the mountains
    of paperwork and the huge amount of time and money necessary
    are daunting.
    
    I'm sure that many on this list will be shocked to hear me say
    this, but the ICSA firewall product certification is orders of
    magnitude more valuable to real customers than ITSEC evaluation.
    
    mjr.
    



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