SECURING FIBRE CHANNEL FABRICS - Brocade

Common Criteria (CC)allow different individuals to have authority over the different types offunctions and prevents one individual from having total control overthe entire process.Security Level 4Security Level 4 provides the highest level of security and builds uponSecurity Level 3. The physical security mechanisms at this level mustprovide a complete envelope of protection around the cryptographicmodule. All unauthorized attempts to physically access the cryptographicmodule must be detected and responded to by zeroizing allplaintext CSPs. The cryptographic module must also be protectedagainst extremely vigorous environmental conditions that exceed thenormal operating ranges for voltage and temperature.Only the most demanding environments require products certified toSecurity Level 4, such as combat zones and highly secure facilitiesthat use equipment containing highly sensitive information. Underthese exacting conditions, the equipment must still be able to zeroizethe CSPs. For this reason, some people refer to Security Level 4 as a“science experiment,” since the testing process is extremely rigorous,lengthy, and expensive and few products are certified to this level.FIPS ProcessOnce a vendor applies to qualify under FIPS 140-2, there is a series ofstages to go through. The vendor and product under evaluation arepublished on the NIST/NIAP website at: http://www.niap-ccevs.org/ccscheme/vpl/.There are five basic stages to get to final acceptance and qualification:1. Implementation Under Test (IUT)2. Review Pending3. In Review4. Coordination5. FinalizationCommon Criteria (CC)Common Criteria (CC), like the FIPS 140-2 standard, were also developedto simplify the acquisition process of IT security products. It is astandard of evaluation of security properties of IT products and systems.As such, it addresses the three basic tenets of security:protecting the Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA) of informa-Securing Fibre Channel Fabrics 165