STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb. 10, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Swedish company Pointsec Mobile Technologies has become the first provider of mobile data protection solutions to get a product certified under Evaluation Assurance Level 4 (EAL4) of the Common Criteria, an international IT security standard mutually recognized by the world's leading industrialized nations.
Pointsec's Common Criteria certification, the culmination of an extensive testing and evaluation process conducted by an accredited third-party testing organization, has been awarded to Pointsec(R) for PC, the company's flagship product. Pointsec provides uniquely efficient and effective security protection for all information stored on enterprise desktop PCs, laptops, PDAs and smart phones. Pointsec products feature enforceable mandatory access control, automatic real-time encryption of all data on the hard drive, and centralized administration.
The Common Criteria (CC), established in 1996, defines concepts and principles of IT security evaluation that meet the needs of governments across the industrialized world. Initially supported by the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, and the Netherlands, the CC has since been adopted by 19 nations. It has also been codified as ISO Standard 15408.
"Pointsec is immensely pleased to have been awarded this certificate under EAL4, the highest level of Common Criteria validation possible for commercial products," said Peter Larsson, President of Pointsec Mobile Technologies. "This certification has been the product of a long and rigorous process, and gives Pointsec for PC the international standing necessary to meet the needs of both governments and the most demanding multi-national companies, including those in finance, securities, and defense. Currently, Pointsec for PC is the only mobile data protection solution on the market to be certified at this level."
Because the Common Criteria is a worldwide mutually recognized standard, certification in one country automatically establishes validation by governments of the other participating nations.
Pointsec for PC underwent evaluation in the United States beginning in June 2002. The evaluation process was administered by SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), a Fortune 500 research and engineering firm authorized to conduct Common Criteria evaluation by the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP), the U.S. government's sanctioning body.
The Common Criteria defines seven EALs in its standard. Each EAL is a superset of the next lower level, meaning that as the level of assurance goes higher, the amount of requirements and information for each class also increases. Levels beyond EAL4 are considered non-commercial in nature and are generally reserved for restricted and/or national security purposes; however, commercial products used by U.S. government agencies are required to have an EAL4 certificate.
"Pointsec for PC offers a combination of strong security and robust enterprise management tools that make it suitable for enterprise deployment," said Micah Tapman, Senior Security Engineer at SAIC. "Corporate, organizational, and government bodies will benefit from the unique benefits of Pointsec for PC."
Pictures for downloading can be found on www.pointsec.com
For further information please contact: Peter Larsson, President, Pointsec Mobile Technologies tel. +46(0)8-459 54 91 alt. +46(0)708-32 72 68
Pointsec Mobile Technologies AB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Protect Data AB. The company develops and markets access-controlling and encrypting systems for stationary and portable computers, palmtop computers, WAP telephones, etc. Pointsec Mobile Technologies has 47 employees and offices in San Francisco, Chicago and Washington DC in the USA, Cambridge in the United Kingdom, Dusseldorf in Germany and Stockholm, Falun and Sundsvall in Sweden. Visit our web site at: www.pointsec.com. The Protect Data Group offers tailor-made IT security solutions to large companies and organizations. The company focuses on four business areas: digital identities and resource security, network security, anti-virus and content security, and consultancy services for information security. Within these areas, the company offers comprehensive IT security solutions based on aspects such as access control and encryption systems, anti-virus systems, digital sentry services, firewalls, user identification and content control, secure VPN and PKI solutions, digital signatures and systems for secure transactions. Protect Data is the market leader in its business area in the Nordic region and has subsidiaries in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom and the USA. Protect Data has approximately 100 employees and is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Visit our web site at: www.protectdata.com.
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http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/02/10/20040210BIT00670/wkr0001.doc
http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/02/10/20040210BIT00670/wkr0002.pdf