On September 25, 2026, the Common Criteria community gathered in Rome for the second day of the 30th Common Criteria Users Forum (CCUF) Workshop, hosted at the historic Hotel Forum. atsec was proud to sponsor the Workshop Day and the joint CCRA/CCDB Happy Hour that followed – an occasion that brought together old colleagues, new ideas, and many years of shared commitment to security assurance.
For atsec, supporting this event was particularly meaningful. Our connection to the Common Criteria community goes back decades. atsec experts have contributed to the development and evolution of ISO/IEC 15408, helped establish the Common Criteria Users Forum in 2012, and have served on the CCUF Management Board since its inception. Through the years, we have also been active participants in the International Common Criteria Conference (ICCC) and in the many technical discussions, working groups, and community efforts that have helped Common Criteria evolve.
Rome provided an extraordinary setting in which to celebrate that history. From the terrace of Hotel Forum, attendees looked directly across the Roman Forum, where people gathered two thousand years ago to exchange ideas, debate difficult questions, and build consensus. It was hard to imagine a more fitting location for the Common Criteria Users Forum. As the afternoon gave way to a spectacular Roman sunset, the day concluded with the joint CCUF and CCRA/CCDB Happy Hour, offering colleagues from schemes, laboratories, industry, government, and the broader Common Criteria community an opportunity to reconnect in a more relaxed setting. With the ancient Roman Forum below and the CC community gathered above, the remarkable setting created a memorable connection between past and present.
To mark the occasion, atsec created a special video, “From the Forum to the Future – IA in the Age of AI”, a video exploring information assurance as the Common Criteria community enters the age of artificial intelligence. The clip takes a lighthearted journey from ancient Rome to the origins and evolution of the Common Criteria, through decades of international collaboration, and finally back to Rome – before looking ahead to the new challenges and opportunities that AI brings to security assurance.
Along the way, attentive viewers may recognize a few familiar faces from the Common Criteria community – people whose ideas, leadership, technical expertise, and sometimes spirited discussions have helped bring the community to where it is today. Their appearances offered a playful reminder that standards and assurance frameworks are ultimately shaped not only by documents and processes, but by people working together over many years.
The date brought another happy coincidence: September 25 was also the Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, a celebration traditionally associated with the full moon, reunion, and people coming together. That symbolism felt especially appropriate for an international community reuniting in Rome after so many years of working, debating, and building trust together.
The video had some fun with that coincidence as well. A full moon becomes part of the story – with a subtle Common Criteria “CC” appearing on its face. And perhaps the video has permanently changed the full moon for CC experts: where others see the Moon, we may now see the CC logo.
Another moment drew particularly warm laughter. As the video arrived at the joint CCRA/CCDB Happy Hour, an AI-created character bearing an unmistakable resemblance to the leader of the Italian Common Criteria scheme, representing the host nation, appeared to propose a toast. The unexpected familiarity was immediately recognized, prompting delighted chuckles around the room.
Against the spectacular backdrop of the Roman Forum and under the symbolic full moon, the moment captured the spirit of the evening: shared history, reunion, professional friendship, a little humor, and a community looking toward its next chapter together.
We invite you to enjoy the video created especially for this occasion:
Registration is open for FIPS ’n’ Chips 2026 at http://www.crypto-v.org/fnc2026.
