Trends in Government Endorsed Security Product Evaluations

Government endorsed security product evaluations completed between 1984 and 1999 show a number of interesting trends. According to official lists maintained by the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, 242 products were evaluated since the first U.S. evaluations in 1984. The evaluations show trends in the number of evaluations performed, which evaluations are performed and where, what evaluation levels are achieved, and what types of products are evaluated. The average number of evaluations completed each year tripled in 1990 and again in 1994 to reach an average rate of 30 per year. Evaluations based on the Information Technology Security Evaluation Criteria (ITSEC) have predominated since 1993 and accounted for 70% of the evaluations completed in 1999. Although the Common Criteria is the recognized international replacement for older national criteria, it only accounted for 17% of the evaluations completed in 1999.