On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that eight of the company’s popular applications are now Common Criteria (CC) certified at Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 4+, Federal Computer Week reports.Common Criteria are a set of assurance standards that assist customers’ evaluations of IT products. Meeting the standard is essential for companies to win federal contracts that include the handling of classified information. Scores range from 1 to 7, 7 being the highest possible score.Financial institutions, government agencies and other parties who process sensitive information pay close attention to CC certifications when purchasing software.Certification was granted for the following products, according to Federal Computer Week: Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit) with Service Pack 1Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit and 64-bit versions) with Service Pack 1Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit and 64-bit versions) with Service Pack 1Microsoft Windows 2003 Certificate Server, Certificate Issuing and Management Components (CIMC) (Security Level 3 Protection Profile, Version 1.0)Microsoft Windows XP, Professional with Service Pack 2Microsoft Windows XP, Embedded with Service Pack 2Microsoft already makes a number of products that have received EAL 4+ ratings. They are as follows:Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004Exchange Server 2003Windows 2000 ProfessionalWindows 2000 Server and Advanced Server–Al Sacco, CXO Media Related content news analysis Companies are already feeling the pressure from upcoming US SEC cyber rules New Securities and Exchange Commission cyber incident reporting rules don't kick in until December, but experts say they highlight the need for greater collaboration between CISOs and the C-suite By Cynthia Brumfield Sep 28, 2023 6 mins Regulation Data Breach Financial Services Industry news UK data regulator warns that data breaches put abuse victims’ lives at risk The UK Information Commissioner’s Office has reprimanded seven organizations in the past 14 months for data breaches affecting victims of domestic abuse. By Michael Hill Sep 28, 2023 3 mins Electronic Health Records Data Breach Government news EchoMark releases watermarking solution to secure private communications, detect insider threats Enterprise-grade software embeds AI-driven, forensic watermarking in emails and documents to pinpoint potential insider risks By Michael Hill Sep 28, 2023 4 mins Communications Security Threat and Vulnerability Management Security Software news SpecterOps to use in-house approximation to test for global attack variations The new offering uses atomic tests and in-house approximation in purple team assessment to test all known techniques of an attack. By Shweta Sharma Sep 28, 2023 3 mins Penetration Testing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe