FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1999-01-12

Guidelines lead to new confidence in computer security products

The Standards Council of Canada today issued two new guidelines as part of a national effort to enhance confidence in Information Technology (IT) security products.

Guidelines for the Accreditation of Information Technology Security Evaluation and Testing Facilities (CAN-P-1591) and Checklist for the Assessment of Information Technology Security Evaluation and Testing Facilities (CAN-P-1592) will be used to accredit Information Technology Security Evaluation and Testing facilities. Accreditation will provide a recognized means of determining the competence of these facilities, enhancing the marketability of IT security products and giving users of these products greater peace of mind. IT security products are used to protect sensitive data from loss, alteration or disclosure.

An August 1998 agreement between the Standards Council of Canada and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) created a broadly based private sector and government working group to develop guidelines for an accreditation program to recognize laboratories that test and evaluate the conformity of IT products to security standards. The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) will accredit laboratories using the two documents announced today. The accreditation program will also accommodate a diversity of information technology security standards and communities of interest.

Building on the SCC accreditation process, CSE will approve labs to perform security product evaluations against the Common Criteria and certify the evaluation results as part of the Canadian Common Criteria Evaluation and Certification Scheme.

The Common Criteria is an internationally recognized IT security standard developed by the CSE and its partners in the US, the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands. It can be found on CSE's web site at www.cse-cst.gc.ca.

A product evaluation certified by CSE against the Common Criteria in Canada is automatically accepted in the other partner countries, thus providing an international market for the Canadian IT industry.

The Standards Council of Canada is a Crown corporation with the mandate to promote efficient and effective standardization. Its Program for Accreditation of Laboratories - Canada (PALCAN) has accredited over 200 laboratories in a variety of specialty areas.

The CSE is a federal government agency that delivers information technology security solutions to the Canadian government.

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