Integrity RTOS Certified To EAL 6+

Green Hills Software said its Integrity-178B real-time operating system is the first to be certified to Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 6+, the highest security level ever achieved for an operating system.

The certification by the National Information Assurance Partnership, a U.S. government initiative of the National Security Agency and National Institute of Standards and Technology, culminated an evaluation of Integrity that started in 2005 and required Green Hills to turn over its source code to the NSA for penetration testing.

Green Hills, Santa Barbara, Calif., said the EAL 6+ certification far exceeds the current security standard to which operating systems must comply, that of protecting against “inadvertent or casual attempts” to breach security. Integrity is proven to protect against “hostile, well-funded attacks,” the company says. The RTOS already is certified to DO-178B Level A for safety-critical avionics, and is applied in the Joint Strike Fighter and F-22 Raptor among other platforms.

“The [EAL 6+] certification is a landmark in the security world,” stated Green Hills CEO Dan O’Dowd. “Integrity is the only solution to the long-unsolved problems of protecting the world’s critical infrastructure, keeping private information private, and thwarting even the most determined cyber attackers.”