Common Criteria


Windows 2000 was awarded the Common Criteria Certificate. This is the first Microsoft Operating System to receive such a prestigious certification putting it on the same level as SecureOS Solaris Unix, both built on an operating system that has been around for over thirty years. This document will explain what the Common Criteria Certificate is, how a vendor achieves it and why a vendor would want it.

Common Criteria is based on the idea of a sound way of evaluating the security of an operating system. Common Criteria has evolved over the years. Security evaluation criteria goes back to the