The State of Qatar authorized to issue Certificates for Information Security of IT Products & Systems recognized worldwide

The State of Qatar has been authorized to issue Certificates for Information Security of IT Products and Systems, as it is the first country in the Middle East and North Africa allowed to issue this type of Certificates by the Common Criteria Management Committee of the Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement.

This was during the first Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) conference of year 2023 in Malaysia.

This unprecedented achievement came after that State of Qatar’s Common Criteria Scheme (QCCS) under National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) underwent a conformity assessment by Malaysia’s and India’s certification authorities to ensure its compliance, where experts reported to the Committee Chair of Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) relevant committees that Qatar Common Criteria Scheme (QCCS) met all requirements.

The State of Qatar has joined the Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) in 2015 as a Consuming Member of Certificates issued by Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) Authorizing members, in efforts of improving security and preparedness for cyber security threats in all critical sectors. The National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) has ensured that all stipulated requirements by the Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) were fulfilled to be recognized as an Authorizing Member.

The Common Criteria (CC) is an international set of guidelines and specifications defining a framework for IT security evaluation and certification. It provides assurance that IT products meet standard security requirements for government or specific market deployments through formal recognition that certify a product as it meets standard requirements (ISO/IEC 15408).