ISO/IEC TR 15443-1:2012

TECHNICAL ISO/IEC
REPORT TR
15443-1
Second edition
2012-11-15
Information technology — Security
techniques — Security assurance
framework —
Part 1:
Introduction and concepts
Technologies de l'information — Techniques de sécurité — Assurance
de la sécurité cadre —
Partie 1: Introduction et concepts

Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2012
©  ISO/IEC 2012
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ii © ISO/IEC 2012 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword . v
Introduction . vi
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Abbreviated Terms . 6
5 Concepts of security assurance . 8
5.1 Security assurance . 8
5.2 Assurance is distinguishable from confidence . 9
5.3 The need for security assurance . 9
5.4 Security assurance is intangible . 10
5.5 Security assurance reduces security risk . 10
5.6 Security assurance provided is related to the effort expended . 10
5.7 Security assurance does not improve the product . 11
5.8 Security assurance stakeholders . 11
5.8.1 Those requiring confidence in SACA results . 11
5.8.2 Approval and assurance authorities . 11
5.9 Security assurance pervasiveness . 12
5.9.1 Pass-through security assurance . 14
5.9.2 Boundaries of deliverables . 14
5.9.3 Transfer of deliverables . 18
5.10 Organisational aspects of SACA . 18
6 The structure of security assurance . 19
6.1 Security assurance requirements specification . 20
6.2 Security assurance cases . 20
6.2.1 Developing a security assurance case . 21
6.2.2 Communicating a security assurance case . 21
6.3 Security assurance evidence . 21
6.4 Security assurance claims . 21
6.5 Security assurance arguments . 22
7 SACA techniques . 23
7.1 Techniques . 23
7.1.1 Effectiveness (or evaluation) . 24
7.1.2 Correctness (or conformance) . 24
7.1.3 Predictive assurance . 24
7.2 Selecting security assurance techniques . 24
7.2.1 Optimisation considerations . 25
8 SACA methods . 26
8.1 Security Assurance Conformity Assessment (SACA) Methods . 26
8.1.2 The composition of a security assurance conformance assessment method . 27
8.1.3 Methods specific to security assurance . 28
8.1.4 Methods not specific to security assurance . 29
8.2 Approaches of SACA methods . 29
8.2.1 Approach types . 29
8.2.2 Combining approaches . 30
8.3 Coverage of life cycle phases . 31
8.3.1 Security assurance conformity assessors . 32
8.3.2 Efficiency of a SACA method . 32
© ISO/IEC 2012 – All rights reserved iii

8.4 The relationship between security criteria and assessment methods .33
8.5 Security assurance ratings .33
8.6 SACA tools .34
8.7 Outputs from the application of SACA methods .34
9 CASCO .35
9.1 Standards supporting conformity assessment .35
10 SACA Paradigms .36
10.1 SACA schemes .36
10.2 SACA conformity assessment bodies .37
10.2.1 Type A conformity assessments .37
10.2.2 Second party conformity assessment bodies .37
10.2.3 Third party conformity assessment bodies .38
10.3 Example models of SACA paradigms.38
10.3.1 Common Criteria .38
10.3.2 The Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) .39
10.3.3 The Payment Card Industry .40
11 Aspects of the composition of security assurance .41
11.1 Developing an assurance case in a compositional setting .42
11.1.1 General problems of composition .43
11.1.2 General aspects of composition re-use .43
11.1.3 Composition using different assurance techniques .44
11.2 Types of composition .44
11.2.1 Layering .44
11.2.2 Network .46
11.2.3 Component .48
11.3 Further activities .49
Bibliography .50

iv © ISO/IEC 2012 – All rights reserved

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies
(ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO
technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been
established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and
non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards
adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an
International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.
In exceptional circumstances, when a technical committee has collected data of a different kind from that
which is normally published as an International Standard (“state of the art”, for example), it may decide by a
simple majority vote of its participating members to publish a Technical Report. A Technical Report is entirely
informative in nature and does not have to be reviewed until the data it provides are considered to be no
longer valid or useful.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC TR 15443-1 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 27, Security techniques.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/IEC TR 15443-1:2005), which has been
technically revised. It also replaces ISO/IEC TR 15443-3.
ISO/IEC TR 15443 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology — Security
techniques — Security assurance framework:
 Part 1: Introduction and concepts
 Part 2: Analysis
© ISO/IEC 2012 – All rights reserved v

Introduction
At the plenary meeting of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 in November 1994, a study group was set up to consider the
question of testing and assessment methods which contribute to assurance that IT products and systems
conform to security standards from SC 27 and elsewhere (e.g. SC 21 and ETSI; and some Internet standards
contain security as
...