Common Criteria

The Common Criteria for Information Technology Security Evaluation (CC) and the companion Common Methodology for Information Technology Security Evaluation (CEM) are the technical basis for an international agreement, the Common Criteria Recognition Agreement (CCRA), which ensures that:

Product security properties are evaluated by competent and independent licensed laboratories to determine their assurance.
Supporting documents that are used within the Common Criteria certification process define how the criteria and evaluation methods are applied when certifying specific technologies.
The certification of the security properties of an evaluated product can be issued by a number of Certificate Authorizing Schemes, with this certification being based on the result of their evaluation.
These certificates are recognized by all the signatories of the CCRA.

The CC web portal, http://www.commoncriteriaportal.org/index.html reports the status of the CCRA, the CC and the certification schemes, licensed laboratories, certified products and related information, news, and events.