SuSE beats Red Hat in certification race

SuSE, backed by IBM, has achieved Linux's first ever international security certification, beating a rival team of Red Hat and Oracle.

SuSE Linux Enterprise Server version 8 running on IBM's eServer xSeries has met the Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 2+ certification, part of the Common Criteria (CC) standard agreed by the International Standards Organisation (ISO).

The certification, a common ISO standard agreed by 18 governments including the UK, will allow IBM to bid for lucrative mission-critical public sector contracts.

CC, known internationally as ISO 15408, uses rigorous techniques to assess security and assurance of technology products. A proposal submitted in February by Red Hat backed by Oracle is still being considered.

"SuSE is the world's only open source operating system manufacturer which has technically demonstrated CC proficiency that can control and minimise security risks through a comprehensive quality assurance process," said Richard Seibt, chief executive of SuSE, in a statement.

IBM said the most important benefit of CC certification was that it further validated the security and quality of open source software, both for governments and other industries with secure needs.

Both SuSE and Red Hat are now working towards the EAL 3+ certification and Common Operating Environment (COE) standard, hoping to achieve this before the end of the year.

But here Red Hat has a slight advantage, having already met the COE standard which is specific to the US Department of Defense.