Official UC blog

Network Frontiers Leverages UCF Open Data Format

Written by UCF | Oct 20, 2010 12:19:56 AM

LAFAYETTE, CA, October 20, 2010 – Network Frontiers, the premier providers of IT Compliance mapping, today announced the release of the Q3 2010 Unified Compliance Framework quarterly update. This is the first update which includes separately licensed, third party content provided in the UCF format.

Network Frontiers’ Unified Compliance Framework (UCF) harmonizes IT controls from over 400 international regulatory requirements, Green standards, and guidelines into a single set of straightforward requirements that clearly show the many points where global, state, and industry regulations overlap, dramatically reducing the time, effort, and cost associated with regulatory compliance efforts.

The UCF is leveraging its open standard publishing format so that other content owners can easily publish their own data to the UCF IT controls mapping structure. The first two organizations leveraging the UCF format are the Center for Internet Security (CIS) and the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA).

The CIS and Windows 7 benchmark provide auditable Windows 7 Common Configuration Enumerations (CCEs) for desktop and portable computers. CIS subscribers will not need to transpose the Windows 7 benchmarks into machine-readable format since it is now shipping with the UCF. The Q3 2010 update also includes Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) control mapping. Network Frontiers worked closely with CSA members to ensure the accurate mapping of CSA best practice controls into the UCF format. Network Frontiers and the CSA also plan to produce a jointly-mapped suite of audit questions, slated for release in Q4 2010.

“For the first time, several different organizations have come together to deliver compliance content leveraging a single framework,” says Craig Isaacs, CEO of Network Frontiers. “Everyone benefits: content consumers only have to worry about one format and content providers have a consistent format to use which is already supported by many of the key industry players.”

Additionally, the UCF’s Glossary and Acronyms list has been updated in Q3 2010. The glossary has grown from roughly 3,000 terms to more than 15,000. The acronyms list has grown from approximately 500 to more than 2,000 acronyms.

The UCF has become the industry standard solution for compliance vendors and is been licensed for use by industry leaders including CA, Microsoft, McAfee, and NetIQ for use in their own governance, compliance and risk management solutions. More information can be found at unifiedcompliance.com.

About Network Frontiers and the UCF

Since 1992, Network Frontiers has developed ground-breaking tools to support IT best practices with a special focus on regulatory compliance, metrics, systems continuity and governance. The Unified Compliance Framework (UCF) is Network Frontiers’ flagship product. By focusing on commonalities across regulations, standards-based development, and simplified architectures, the UCF supports a strategic approach to IT compliance that reduces cost, limits liability, and leverages the value of compliance-related technologies and services across the enterprise. The UCF’s content and methodology is the direct result of Network Frontiers deep understanding of IT regulations and standards and decades of experience consulting for clients, publications, and vendors in the mission-critical IT arena.