South Korea's NIS to Cut Duplicate Security Product Testing
South Korea's National Intelligence Service plans to test only new features when security products are updated, easing repeat verification for vendors.
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giftdetect· the right gift in minutesSouth Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) is reviewing a plan to simplify the security function verification that products must pass whenever a new feature is added. Under the idea, only the new feature and the parts related to it would be tested, provided previously verified functions are unchanged and unaffected. Industry sources said on November 10 that the agency will gather feedback and draft a detailed plan by the first half of next year.
Why the current system is a burden
A security function confirmation certificate shows that a product meets the NIS's security requirements. It is mandatory for vendors who want to sell security products to the public sector. Under today's system, adding any feature means re-verifying the whole solution, to check how the new function connects to existing ones and how it affects overall security. The reasoning is that a safe new feature can still cause problems once combined with existing ones.
Critics have long complained that this also retests common functions that were already verified, wasting time and money. One security company chief executive said firms must currently retest user authentication, access control and encrypted communication, which ties up staff and budget and delays product updates. He called an improvement urgent.
Platforms raise the stakes
The need has grown as the security market shifts from individual solutions to integrated platforms. Such platforms add modules frequently in response to changing threats and customer demands, so full re-verification each time becomes heavier the more often the product expands. The NIS move is seen as an effort to align testing with platform-style development: risks from combining new and existing functions would still be examined thoroughly, while earlier test results would be reused for unaffected functions.
The key question is how to confirm that existing functions are unchanged and unaffected. Clear criteria for judging impact and for the scope of additional testing will be needed so that security risks are not missed. The change is expected to help domestic companies focused on the public market.
An NIS official said the agency is considering testing only newly added functions and related parts once it is confirmed that verified functions are not changed or affected, and will share the detailed plan in the first half of next year.
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