NetScreen First To Achieve EAL4+ Certification

November 13, 2003: Netscreen Technologies, Inc. (Netscreen), announced that the NetScreen-5200, a purpose- built, integrated firewall and virtual private network (VPN) security system, is the first firewall platform to receive Common Criteria EAL4+ certification using the National Security Agency (NSA) developed U.S. Government firewall protection profile - the U.S. Government Traffic-Filter Firewall Protection Profile for Medium Robustness Environments, version 1.4. Several other NetScreen products are also undergoing testing for this certification, which is highly desired by many government customers.

Common Criteria EAL4+ builds on NetScreen's previous Common Criteria EAL4 certification by adding compliance with the Medium Robustness Protection Profile. To achieve this added level of certification, the NSA performed vulnerability and penetration testing on the product in conjunction with source code analysis, verifying it meets a specific set of stringent security requirements.

The NSA has developed the Protection Profiles for firewall products and mandates that all Department of Defense networks use firewall products certified against these Protection Profiles, when there are certified products available. With this EAL4+ certification, the NetScreen-5200 system running ScreenOS 4.0.2r7 is the first product that has been rigorously tested and verified for government networks requiring the Medium Robustness Protection Profile.

"Common Criteria standards help government organizations evaluate IT security products more effectively," said Jean Schaffer, director for the National Information Assurance Partnership. "Congratulations to NetScreen Technologies as the first firewall vendor to receive the EAL4+ certification against the Traffic-Filter Firewall Protection Profile for Medium Robustness Environments."

"NetScreen is committed to delivering products that meet the rigorous requirements of our government accounts worldwide," said David Flynn, vice president of marketing at NetScreen. "This certification underscores that NetScreen's full-featured, purpose-built solutions can be considered among the most trusted and effective offerings today for governments and affiliated agencies worldwide."

NetScreen's integrated appliances and systems that previously achieved Common Criteria EAL4 certification include the NetScreen-5XT, -25, -50, -204, -208, -500 and -5200 running ScreenOS version 4.0.2.r6