Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006 SP1 – Common Criteria EAL4+

I’m Bill Jensen, Senior Product Manager for ISA Server and the upcoming Forefront Threat Management Gateway. For those that do not know, ISA Server is Microsoft’s award-winning edge security solution that enables you to protect your perimeter from attack while allowing remote employees to securely access the corporate network.

Today, I want to share the news that ISA Server 2006 Service Pack 1 has achieved Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4+ certification! What does this mean?

First, EAL 4+ is the highest level of firewall certification available in the Common Criteria schema. This means ISA Server 2006 SP1 is a perfect fit for environments with high security needs and that it can be confidently used in critical, sensitive environments such as those used to secure tax or financial records.

Second, the certification is provided by an impartial third party (in this case, the Federal Office for Information Security in Germany) and is mutually recognized across all the nations that participate in the Common Criteria schema. Many organizations have already decided that ISA Server 2006 - a top 5 firewall in market share, according to IDC - provides the security they need. This certification gives them further, independent proof of the value of ISA Server to their networks.

If you are interested in learning more, feel free to see our protection profile here or visit the ISA Web site.