Cloud 101CircleEventsBlog
Missed CSA's Cyber Monday sale? You can still get 50% off the CCSK + CCZT Exam & Training Bundle and Token Bundle with raincheck code 'rcdoubledip24'

Research Topic

Open Certification Framework

Open Certification Framework Working Group Charter
Open Certification Framework Working Group Charter

Download

Open Certification Framework
The Cloud Security Alliance has identified gaps within the IT ecosystem that are inhibiting market adoption of secure and reliable cloud services. Consumers do not have simple, cost effective ways to evaluate and compare their providers’ resilience, data protection and privacy capabilities and service portability. 

The CSA Open Certification Framework (OCF) is an industry initiative to allow global, trusted independent evaluation of cloud providers. It is a program for flexible, incremental and multi-layered cloud provider certification and/or attestation according to the Cloud Security Alliance’s industry leading security guidance and control framework. The program will integrate with popular third-party assessment and attestation statements developed within the public accounting community to avoid duplication of effort and cost.

As a critical step toward securing the digital foundation of our economy, we recommend that businesses reduce their reliance on proprietary, in-house security assessment programs related to cloud computing. Instead, we recommend leveraging the CSA’s Security, Trust & Assurance Registry (STAR) program and its associated assurance tools as core components of vetting and procuring cloud providers and services. We believe this emphasis on consistent, uniform cloud security standards will increase the security baseline for all participants in our economy. You can view the CSA STAR Registry here.

Help CSA move from “point-in-time” assurance to continuous assurance. This change requires moving away from manual audits and moving to the world of security metrics.While the idea of security metrics is not new, there is no standard reference in the industry that supports security metrics in a way that is comparable to what the CSA CCM or ISO/IEC 27002 does for security controls. To address this gap, CSA launched the Continuous Audit Metrics Working Group in early 2020 to build the first catalog of security metrics for the cloud. 

Open Certification FrameworkEnterprise ArchitectureCAIQCCAKSecurity Guidance

Discuss this topic in Circle

View discussion community

Open Certification Framework

CSA Research crowd-sources the knowledge and expertise of security experts and helps address the challenges and needs they’ve experienced, or seen others experience, within the cybersecurity field. Each publication is vendor-neutral and follows the peer review process outlined in the CSA Research Lifecycle. We recommend getting started by reading the following documents.

The Evolution of STAR: Introducing Continuous Auditing

The Evolution of STAR: Introducing Continuous Auditing

For the most demanding cloud technology use cases, CSA created the STAR Level 3 program, further extending the scope of Level 2 to demonstrate continuous, automated, security, compliance, and privacy control effectiveness. CSA Continuous Auditing Certification (aka STAR Level 3) is the most rigorous assurance tier in the STAR program. Level 3-certified services providers can demonstrate that critical security controls are monitored and validated continuously, providing customers with the ultimate level of transparency and assurance.

Streamlining Vendor IT Security and Risk Assessments

Streamlining Vendor IT Security and Risk Assessments

Vendor security assessments generally consume a lot of time and cost while resulting in a limited understanding of a vendor’s risk profile. These inefficient assessments have trouble keeping up with the growing ecosystem of technology vendors—and especially the increased reliance on cloud security vendors. In such an ecosystem, technology leaders must redouble their efforts to improve vendor security oversight, risk assessment, and risk management activities. In this paper, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and the National Technology Security Coalition (NTSC) are advocating for a new approach to how organizations manage risks, achieve assurance, and enable trust in the cloud.

Open Certification Framework Working Group Charter

Open Certification Framework Working Group Charter

The CSA Open Certification Framework (OCF) is an industry initiative to allow global, trusted independent evaluation of cloud providers. It is a program for flexible, incremental and multi-layered cloud provider certification and/or attestation according to the Cloud Security Alliance’s industry leading security guidance and control framework. 

Webinars

CCAK Webinar Series: Module 1 - Cloud Governance
CCAK Webinar Series: Module 1 - Cloud Governance

August 4 | Virtual

Learn more

CCAK Webinar Series: Module 2
CCAK Webinar Series: Module 2

August 11 | TBD

Learn more

CCAK Webinar Series: Modules 4 & 9
CCAK Webinar Series: Modules 4 & 9

August 18 | Online

Learn more

CCAK Webinar Series: Modules 3 & 7
CCAK Webinar Series: Modules 3 & 7

August 18 | Online

Learn more

Blog Posts

CSA Community Spotlight: Auditing Cloud Security with CEO David Forman
ISO 27001: Auditing “Themes” in the 2022 Revision
What an Auditor Should Know about Cloud Computing Part 3