SC Magazine Product Reviews

Starting with a goal some seven years ago to include more and varied products and services in our monthly Group Tests and First Looks, we established our U.S.-based testing team, which includes SC Magazine Lab staff and a network of external experts who are respected industrywide.

The diligence and commitment to excellence made by these staff and other members of our editorial team have made our Product Reviews one of the most well-read sections of our magazine. As a result, they remain the most objective, thorough and best in the industry.

In our Group Tests each month, we look at several products around a common theme based on a predetermined set of SC Labs standards (performance, ease of use, features, documentation, support, and value for money). There are roughly 50 individual criteria in the general test process. These criteria were developed by the SC Magazine Lab in cooperation with the Center for Regional and National Security at Eastern Michigan University.

We developed second sets of standards specifically for the groups under test and use the Common Criteria (ISO 1548) as a basis for the test plan. Group Test reviews focus on operational characteristics and are considered at evaluation assurance level (EAL) 1 (functionally tested) or, in some cases, EAL 2 (structurally tested) in Common Criteria-speak.

Our final conclusions and ratings are subject to the judgment and interpretation of the tester and are validated by Technology Editor Peter Stephenson. All reviews are vetted for consistency, correctness and completeness by Stephenson and his team prior to being submitted for publication. All prices quoted are in American dollars.

Along with these responsibilities, Stephenson also introduces each month the Product Section of SC Magazine. As many of our loyal readers likely are aware, Stephenson has worked with SC Magazine in some capacity for years. Indeed, his straight-talking opinions once filled our news pages in a long-standing monthly contribution that since has been taken over by a rotation of experts.

In addition to overseeing SC Magazine's reviews, Stephenson also is CISO of Norwich University. His areas of expertise include information assurance and risk, information warfare, counter-terrorism, and digital investigation and forensics. He teaches information assurance, network attack and defense, digital forensics and cyber investigation on both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

He started his 40-year career as a U.S. Navy cryptographer, then moved into the private sector where he operated his own information security consulting practice for some 20 years. Navigating the industry and his career with aplomb, he then became director of technology for the global security practice of Netigy Corporation and was, until July 2003, the director of technology and a research coordinator for QinetiQ Trusted Information Management, a large international information security professional and managed services company.

In short, Stephenson knows a thing or two about IT security.

Along with him, three other professionals work for SC Magazine Lab in the U.S.

Mike Stephenson, lab manager, maintains the test facility and ensures that the integrity of SC's improved test methodologies that use standards from the Common Criteria are upheld.

John Aitken, director of lab operations, is on hand to oversee product shipments, scheduling and other needed lab operations, while Judy Traub, editorial assistant, focuses on managing relationships and lines of communications with vendors and service providers participating in reviews.

For more information, click on the links below.

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