Information Security Department

Chairman

Mrs. Mária Szilvási NAGYNÉ

rtkozpont@hmei.hu

Secretary

Not Appointed

Coordinator

Not Appointed

Members

Mr. Miklós SZALAY

hmeirt@mail.datanet.hu

Dr. Ferenc SUBA

ferenc.suba@ihm.gov.hu

Supplementary Members

None

Seminar on the International Standard for Information Security Specification and Evaluation

Intended audience

This one-day seminar will be widely applicable and geared toward an audience that understands basic Information Technology security issues but does not necessarily have any knowledge of the Common Criteria (CC). Attendees are expected from government, inter-government and industry organizations expected to take part in the establishment of a Hungarian evaluation scheme expected to join the CC Recognition Arrangement. The seminar will be presented in a lecture style so that any number of participants may attend in order to maximize on cost effectiveness.

Course objective

Course attendees will become familiar with the central concepts of the Common Criteria and the principles of using the standard as good system engineering practice. An understanding of these central notions is necessary in order to understand the activities, time periods and estimated budget required for joining the CC Recognition Arrangement. The day will be split into one-hour sessions with sufficient time set aside for answering questions from the participants.

The subjects for this seminar will address the following questions

• What is the CC, where did it come from and who uses it?
• What are the national and international arrangements supporting the CC? How could the organizations present take part in those arrangements? What would be expected of these organizations?
• How can the CC be used?
• What is the terminology of the CC and how does it relate to normal practice?
• What are the technical underpinnings of the CC?
• What are the central technical concepts of the CC?
• How do participants get more information and follow the progression of the CC and its implementation?

Course outline

• 0830 - 0900
  • Registration
• 0900 - 0930
  • Welcome and introduction
• 0930 - 1030
  • Background, development and purpose of the CC
    • Definition and history of formal evaluation
    • History and purpose of a common international evaluation standard
    • History of the role of ISO
• 1030 - 1100
  • Break
• 1100 - 1300
  • CC central terminology and their relationships
    • Compare and contrast Protection Profiles and Security Targets
    • Security Functionality and Security Assurances terminology central to CC and CCRA
• 1300 - 1400
  • Lunch
• 1400 - 1500
  • International Agreements on the use of CC
    • 1998 Mutual Recognition Arrangement among certification agencies
    • 2000 Extended CC recognition arrangement
    • Other "arrangements" outside the CC
    • The meaning and nature of the arrangement
    • Joining the arrangement versus using the arrangement
• 1500 - 1600
  • Steps necessary to join the CCRA
    • Compare and contrast consuming participants and compliant participants
    • Technical requirements for CCRA compliant evaluation schemes
    • Resource requirements
      • Joining costs
      • Ongoing monetary and personnel resources
    • Expected level of participation versus optional
• 1600 - 1630
  • Break
• 1630 - 1730
  • Overview of current status of evaluated products
• 1730 - 1800
  • Closing session and final questions

Introductory Workshop on the Concepts and Practical Application of the International Standard for Information Security Specification and Evaluation

Intended audience

This two-day workshop will be applicable to technical personnel seeking to apply the concepts of the Common Criteria (CC) in the specification and verification of security properties for IT products and systems. It will be presented in a workshop format to maximize interaction and to concentrate on issues and concepts at the pace of the participants. As such, this workshop should be restricted in size to no more than thirty students. Attendees are expected to have an understanding of technical Information Technology security issues and to have knowledge on the CC at least to the level of the one-day seminar. Attendees are expected mostly from government or laboratories in support of government but may be open to inter-government and industry organizations seeking technical knowledge on the application of the CC.

Course objective

Course attendees will become familiar with the application of the technical concepts of system specification and evaluation in the Common Criteria. The workshop will be split into one-hour sessions with sufficient time set aside for answering questions from the participants and for practical exercises to reinforce the knowledge.

The subjects for this seminar will build on the participants understanding, equivalent to the information provided during the one-day introductory seminar, and address the following questions

• What is done in evaluation using the CC?
• How does the CC help in performing a threat and risk assessment?
• What goes into developing security specifications using the Common Criteria (Protection Profiles and Security Targets?)
• How is the CC used to specify the functional capabilities in systems?
• How is the CC used to define, specify and assess those capabilities?
• How does the CC apply to complex systems versus individual products?
• What are common misconceptions of and mistakes in using the CC?

Course outline

Day One

• 0830 - 0900
  • Registration
• 0900 - 0930
  • Welcome and introduction
• 0930 - 1000
  • CC central terminology and their relationships
• 1000 - 1100
  • Protection Profiles and Security Targets
    • What they are and how they are related
    • What they contain
    • How they are developed
    • How they are used
• 1100 - 1130
  • Break
• 1130 - 1230
  • The technical underpinnings of the standard
    • Security functionality and its relationship to business function
    • Independently gained assurance in security functions
    • Tradeoffs for secure systems
• 1300 - 1400
  • Lunch
• 1400 - 1500
  • The security problem
    • Risk management and defining the "security problem"
    • Determining a "security solution"
    • Use of standard method of formulating, expressing, and justifying, a security solution Tailoring security functional requirements
    • Requirements versus design constraints
    • Relationship of requirements to objectives
    • Types of tailoring operations
• 1500 - 1600
  • Break
• 1600- 1730
  • Using CC Part 2 as a catalogue of system security capabilities
    • An overview of the types of security functionality
    • Interrelationships among security functions
• 1730 - 1800
  • Discussion and "overnight thoughts"

Day Two

• 0900 - 0930
  • Discussion of "overnight thoughts"
• 0930 - 1030
  • Class Exercise on choosing and tailoring function requirements
• 1030 - 1100
  • Break
• 1100 - 1200
  • Using CC Part 3 as a catalogue of assessment activities
    • An overview of the types of security assurance requirements
    • The differences between Part 2 and Part 3
    • Overview of evaluator activities
      • Achieving impartial, comparable evaluation results
      • Types, contents and purpose of evaluation reporting
• 1200 - 1300
  • Class exercise in evaluator activities
• 1300 - 1400
  • Lunch
• 1400 - 1500
  • Methods of combining security requirements
    • Definition of the Target of Evaluation
    • Packages, including Evaluation Assurance Levels
• 1500 - 1600
  • CC Framework support for system specification
    • CC definition of system
    • Trust relationships and interfaces
    • System requirement decomposition and System composition
    • Relationship and reuse of subsystem evaluation results
    • The role of the CC in design/development/integration test
    • Stretching the CC versus breaking the CC for system specification and assessment
• 1600 - 1630
  • Break
• 1630 - 1730
  • System specifications (continued)
• 1730 - 1800
  • Closing session and final comments