The Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF) is an

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...

format specifying

security checklist Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted Coercion, coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons an ...

s, benchmarks and configuration documentation. XCCDF development is being pursued by

NIST The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

, the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...

, The MITRE Corporation, and the

US Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

. XCCDF is intended to serve as a replacement for the security hardening and analysis documentation written in prose. XCCDF is used by the

Security Content Automation Protocol The Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) is a method for using specific standards to enable automated vulnerability management, measurement, and policy compliance evaluation of systems deployed in an organization, including e.g., FISMA (Fed ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

XCCDF Homepage

XCCDF 1.1.2 specification

XCCDF 1.1.3 specification

XCCDF 1.1.4 specification

XCCDF 1.2 specification
(current as of October 2011) Checklists XML-based standards Computer security software