Common Criteria Assurance Continuity certification awarded to Pivot3 for Acuity 10.6 hyperconverged infrastructure software platform

Pivot3, a provider of intelligent infrastructure solutions, announced that it achieved Common Criteria Assurance Continuity certification for its Acuity 10.6 hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) software platform.

Pivot3 is the only HCI vendor with Common Criteria certification of a native-NVMe solution with policy-based management to automate data protection, security and workload performance. This provides government and enterprise customers with unprecedented capabilities to meet the highest security standards across the edge, core and cloud.

Edge strategies

The Common Criteria certification is considered the gold standard for securityMore than ever, enterprise-generated data is being created and processed outside of datacenters and the cloud. Because of this, government agencies and other highly-regulated industries are incorporating edge strategies into their initiatives to support the management of highly distributed data and infrastructure.

“As more data is generated beyond the datacenter, federal customers require infrastructure solutions with the intelligence necessary to process and analyse across the edge, core and cloud – but without compromising security,” said Ben Bolles, vice president of product, Pivot3. “The Common Criteria certification is considered the gold standard for security, providing Pivot3’s customers with the confidence in knowing that their most mission-critical environments are protected and secure.”

Framework for evaluating security features

Common Criteria is an internationally recognised set of guidelines (International Organization for Standardization 15408), which define a common framework for evaluating security features and capabilities of information technology security products. This certification assures both government and private-sector organisations that Pivot3 provides the infrastructure necessary to mitigate emerging threats without compromising security, resilience and manageability at scale.

Pivot3 had previously attained Common Criteria certification on its prior generation software platform. The Common Criteria certification process consists of several evaluation assurance levels, each one more stringent than the last, with product security testing performed by accredited independent, third-party laboratories. This evaluation is recognised by over 28 participating countries, and others who follow the Common Criteria program unofficially such as the European Union.

Common Criteria certification

Commercial organisations also require Common Criteria certification for infrastructure and software solutionsThe U.S. government – as well as many other governments around the world --mandate Common Criteria certification of security products for purchases. All U.S. federal agencies are required to purchase commercial products that have met specified third-party assurance requirements and have been tested by an accredited national laboratory.

Many commercial organisations also require Common Criteria certification for infrastructure and software solutions due to the certification’s intense security standards. Corsec, the global pioneer in product security requirements hardening, assisted Pivot3 with its Common Criteria evaluation and helped streamline the certification effort.

Acuity software platform

“Government agencies face new challenges as they seek to keep up with the growing complexity of IT while protecting against ever-increasing security threats,” said Matthew Appler, CEO, Corsec Security, Inc. “Pivot3’s achievement of the Common Criteria certification on the latest generation of its Acuity software platform brings a powerful range of new capabilities to this market, providing agencies with the intelligent solutions needed to serve citizens and protect our nation’s infrastructure.”