atsec information security Evaluates IBM PR/SM z10 EC/BC at EAL 5

atsec information security has completed the Common Criteria evaluation of IBM Processor Resource/System Manager (PR/SM) LPAR for IBM System z10 Business Class (z10 BC) and z10 Enterprise Class (z10 EC) at evaluation assurance level (EAL) 5. IBM PR/SM was certified by Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). IBM sponsored the evaluation effort.

PR/SM is a cornerstone of IBM's mainframe security, according to atsec. PR/SM's logical partitioning facility enables the resources of a single physical zSeries machine to be divided and shared by distinct logical machines, each capable of running z/VM, z/OS or Linux. All of these operating systems have been evaluated under the Common Criteria by atsec at different evaluation assurance levels. System administrators can configure the distinct logical machines to ensure complete isolation from one another. In such configuration, logical machines cannot gain knowledge about any other logical machine's available I/O resources or performed operations. This assurance enables PR/SM to meet stringent requirements for confidentiality of processed information including requirements mandated by the U.S. government and the banking industry. The evaluated version of PR/SM also allows for setting up cooperating logical partitions (i.e., Parallel Sysplex) that can freely exchange information, while co-existing with other partitions that require complete isolation.

EAL5 certification includes recognition by member countries of the Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) at the EAL4 level.