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Network and Certificate System Security Requirements

Network and Certificate System Security Requirements

On 3 August 2012 the CA/Browser Forum adopted the original Network and Certificate System Security Requirements with an effective date of 1 January 2013. Since then, the Network and Certificate System Security Requirements (NCSSRs) have outlined best practices for the general protection of CA networks and supporting systems, including those touching on trusted roles, delegated third parties, system accounts, logging, monitoring, alerting, vulnerability detection and patch management within a CA’s infrastructure.

Current Version

Network and Certificate System Security Requirements v2.0.5 (redlined) (adopted with Ballot NS-008)

Previous Versions

Network and Certificate System Security Requirements v2.0.4 (redlined) (adopted with Ballot NS-007)

Network and Certificate System Security Requirements v2.0.3 (redlined) (adopted with Ballot NS-006)

Network and Certificate System Security Requirements v2.0.2 (redlined) (adopted with Ballot NS-004)

Network and Certificate System Security Requirements v2.0.1 (redlined) (adopted with Ballot NS-005)

Network and Certificate System Security Requirements v2.0 (redlined) (adopted with Ballot NS-003)

Network Security Controls v1.7 (redlined) (adopted with Ballot SC41)

Network Security Controls v1.6 (redlined) (adopted with Ballot SC39)

CABForum_Network_Security_Controls_v.1.5 (redlined)(adopted with Ballot SC28)

CABForum_Network_Security_Controls_v.1.4 (redlined)(adopted with Ballot SC29)

CABForum_Network_Security_Controls_v.1.3 (redlined)(adopted with Ballot SC21)

CABForum_Network_Security_Controls_v.1.2 (redlined) (adopted with Ballot SC3)

CABForum_Network_Security_Controls_v.1.1 corrected (adopted with Ballot 210)

CABForum_Network_Security_Controls_v.1.1 corrected-redlined

Network_Security_Controls_V1 (adopted with Ballot 83)

Latest releases
Server Certificate Requirements
SC-089: Mass Revocation Planning - Aug 26, 2025

Code Signing Requirements
v3.8 - Aug 5, 2024

What’s Changed CSC-25: Import EV Guidelines to CS Baseline Requirements by @dzacharo in https://github.com/cabforum/code-signing/pull/38 Full Changelog: https://github.com/cabforum/code-signing/compare/v3.7...v3.8

S/MIME Requirements
v1.0.12 - Ballot SMC014 - Oct 13, 2025

This ballot introduces requirements that a Certificate Issuer MUST deploy DNSSEC validation back to the IANA DNSSEC root trust anchor on all DNS queries associated with CAA record lookups performed by the Primary Network Perspective, effective March 15, 2026. The ballot is intended to maintain consistency in the S/MIME Baseline Requirements with the requirements of Ballot SC-085 which implemented identical requirements in the TLS Baseline Requirements. Note: SC-085 also introduced requirements in TLS Baseline Requirements for the use of DNSSEC in domain control validation. These requirements are automatically adopted in the S/MIME BR by the email domain control methods that include a normative reference to section 3.2.2.4 of the TLS Baseline Requirements. The draft also includes minor corrections to web links in the text. This ballot is proposed by Stephen Davidson (DigiCert) and endorsed by Client Wilson (Apple) and Ashish Dhiman (GlobalSign).

Network and Certificate System Security Requirements
Version 2.0.5 (Ballot NS-008) - Jul 9, 2025