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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / AUGUST 11, 2003; VOL. 2 NO. 32
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Breaking News - Security:
IBM And SuSE Linux Earn Security Certification Of Linux
IBM and SuSE Linux announced that SuSE achieved the first ever security
certification of Linux, taking the critical next step in the maturation of
Linux and enabling the adoption of Linux by governments and companies around
the world for mission critical environments.
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 has achieved Common Criteria Security running
on IBM eServer xSeries. The Common Criteria (CC) is an internationally
recognized ISO standard (ISO 15408) used by the Federal government and other
organizations to assess security and assurance of technology products. The
CC provides a standardized way of expressing security requirements and
defines the respective set of rigorous criteria by which the product will be
evaluated. It is widely recognized among IT professionals, government
agencies, and customers as a seal of approval for mission-critical software.
"We are pleased that Linux has reached this important security milestone
through the joint efforts of IBM and SuSE," said Fritz Schulz, Defense
Information Systems Agency. "The Common Criteria certification of Linux
will be a critical factor as Linux is applied to mission critical
environments."
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 on IBM eServer xSeries has earned an
Evaluation Assurance Level 2+ certification, commonly referred to as EAL2+.
IBM and SuSE also announced today that the companies have filed for a higher
level of security certification for SuSE Linux, the Controlled Access
Protection Profile with EAL3+ across the IBM eServer product line, which is
expected later this year.
In addition to the Common Criteria certification, SLES 8 on IBM eServer
platforms is excpected to meet the Common Operating Environment (COE)
standard later this year. This will lead to a product that simultaneously
meets Common Criteria and COE requirements. This standard, unique to the US
Department of Defense (DoD), addresses functionality and interoperability
requirements for commercially acquired IT products. The COE specification is
used to verify the look and feel and function of software products as they
are joined with government customized code. The COE is broadly recognized as
a standard computing environment across the U.S. Government command and
control systems.
"The landmark decision to submit the SuSE Linux Enterprise Server product to
Common Criteria testing challenges the view of many skeptics that open
source systems could not withstand such testing due to the difficulty of
establishing processes in an open-source environment. This announcement
demonstrates IBM's commitment to enterprise infrastructure that is secure,
cost effective and open," said IBM Senior Vice President of Technology and
Manufacturing, Nicholas Donofrio. "With this announcement, we continue to
build upon our commitment to delivering Common Criteria certification across
the IBM eServer platforms. Most importantly, the Common Criteria
certification further validates the security and quality of open source
software, not only for Global Government, but for other industries with
critical security requirements."
"SuSE is the world's only open source operating system manufacturer which
has technically demonstrated Common Criteria proficiency that can control
and minimize security risks through a comprehensive quality assurance
process," said Richard Seibt, Chief Executive Officer, SuSE Linux. "The
Common Criteria evaluation marks yet another first for SuSE, and will
further reassure companies of the high quality and security of the SuSE
Linux Enterprise Server."
The evaluation was completed by atsec information security GmbH, one of the
world's leading vendor-independent IT security consulting companies,
accredited in Germany by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).
Under Common Criteria, products are evaluated against strict standards for
various features, such as the development environment, security
functionality, the handling of security vulnerabilities, security related
documentation and product testing. In certifying SLES 8 on IBM xSeries,
atsec information security GmbH evaluated how SuSE Linux develops, tests and
maintains its products, as well as assessing the processes in place at the
company for handling security issues in its software. IBM and SuSE have
committed to release key components of the Common Criteria evaluation to the
CCeLinux Consortium and Linux development community, by the end of the
month. In addition, IBM and SuSE will continue to work with the open source
development community to actively enhance Linux security to make Linux even
more secure than it is today.
"We congratulate IBM and SuSE for their commitment to information security
as evidenced by the recent successful evaluation and certification of SuSE
Linux Enterprise Server 8. This Linux server product joins a growing list of
commercial products evaluated under the international security standard
Common Criteria---providing greater assurance in the component products
used to build more secure information systems for the federal government,"
said Ron S. Ross, Ph.D., National Institute of Standards and Technology.
In addition to IBM's ongoing commitment to accelerate the development and
certification of Linux as a secure, industrial strength operating system,
IBM intends to continue to invest in ongoing certifications for new and
existing IBM products. IBM plans to seek Common Criteria certification for
IBM's premier virtualization technology, z/VM, in the upcoming year. z/VM
helps enable mainframe customers to run tens to even hundreds of instances
of the Linux operating system on a single IBM zSeries server. IBM's suite
of middleware products are also in line for Common Criteria certification on
Linux. IBM Directory has just completed evaluation under the Common
Criteria. WebSphere Application Server and Tivoli Access Manager are in
evaluation today, and several other IBM Software products are being prepared
to enter the evaluation process.
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