CA/Browser Forum
Home » All CA/Browser Forum Posts » Ballot NS-001: Adopt Network and Certificate System Security Requirements

Ballot NS-001: Adopt Network and Certificate System Security Requirements

This email begins the discussion period for Ballot NS-001: Adopt Network and Certificate System Security Requirements.

PURPOSE OF BALLOT The purpose of this ballot is for the Networking Security Working Group to formally adopt version 1.7 of the Network and Certificate System Security Requirements as currently published by the CA/Browser Forum.

MOTION The following motion has been proposed by Clint Wilson of Apple and endorsed by Tim Hollebeek of DigiCert and Ben Wilson of Mozilla. -–Motion Begins-– In accordance with the Bylaws and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy of the CA/Browser Forum, version 1.7 of the Network and Certificate System Security Requirements are adopted in full. -–Motion Ends-– This ballot proposes a Final Guideline. The procedure for approval of this ballot is as follows: Discussion (7+ days) Start Time: January 31 2022 17:00 UTC

End Time: February 07 2022 17:00 UTC

Vote for approval (7 days) Start Time: February 08 2022 22:00 UTC

End Time: February 15 2022 22:00 UTC

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

Edit this page
The Certification Authority Browser Forum (CA/Browser Forum) is a voluntary gathering of Certificate Issuers and suppliers of Internet browser software and other applications that use certificates (Certificate Consumers).