Employ only government off-the-shelf or commercial off-the-shelf information assurance and information assurance-enabled information technology products that compose an NSA-approved solution to protect classified information when the networks used to transmit the information are at a lower classification level than the information being transmitted; and Ensure that these products have been evaluated and/or validated by NSA or in accordance with NSA-approved procedures.
(a) Employ only government off-the-shelf or commercial off-the-shelf information assurance and information assurance-enabled information technology products that compose an NSA-approved solution to protect classified information when the networks used to transmit the information are at a lower classification level than the information being transmitted; and
(b) Ensure that these products have been evaluated and/or validated by NSA or in accordance with NSA-approved procedures.
Commercial off-the-shelf IA or IA-enabled information technology products used to protect classified information by cryptographic means may be required to use NSA-approved key management. See [NSA CSFC](#3d575737-98cb-459d-b41c-d7e82b73ad78).