EAL6+ Operating System Security Certification

The INTEGRITY-178B operating system has been certified by the National Information Assurance Partnership, a U.S. government initiative operated by the National Security Agency, to Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 6+, High Robustness. This certification is the first of its kind, the highest Common Criteria security level ever achieved for an operating system. Only an EAL6+ High Robustness operating system is certified to protect classified information and other high value resources at risk of attack from hostile and well-funded attackers. This is secure by anyone’s definition. INTEGRITY-178B was certified against the Common Criteria’s SKPP, whose High Robustness designation represents the gold standard for operating system security certification, requiring “security services and mechanisms that provide the most stringent protection and rigorous security countermeasures.” The security gap between EAL4+-certified products and SKPP-certified products is immense: while EAL4+ does not even require examination of the product source code, SKPP requirements include the use of formal methods to mathematically prove the security policies, formal specifications, formal correspondence between design and implementation, complete test coverage of all functional requirements, and penetration testing by the NSA, which has complete access to the source code. The INTEGRITY operating system’s pedigree includes certification and compliance with other demanding government and industry software reliability standards: RTCA/DO-178B Level A, the highest level of avionics safety certification granted by the Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency; FDA Class III, the most life critical medical devices approved by the Food and Drug Administration; IEC 61508 SIL 3, the highest level industrial safety certification granted to an operating system by TÜV.