Industry Standards Compliance and Certification

Objective

Achieve compliance with industry standards and obtain relevant certifications to establish OSSA as a credible, enterprise-ready specification for AI agent orchestration.

Scope

Compliance and certification for:

Specification Standards - ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42 (AI), IEEE P2807 (AI systems)
API Standards - OpenAPI 3.1, JSON Schema Draft 2020-12
Security Standards - OWASP compliance, CWE/SANS Top 25
Kubernetes Standards - CNCF conformance, KEP alignment
Accessibility Standards - WCAG 2.1 AA for documentation
License Compliance - Apache 2.0, SPDX identifiers

Standards Alignment

1. OpenAPI Specification Alignment

Ensure OSSA follows OpenAPI design principles:

# All API specifications should follow OpenAPI 3.1
openapi: 3.1.0
info:
  title: OSSA Registry API
  version: 1.0.0
  license:
    name: Apache 2.0
    identifier: Apache-2.0
  contact:
    name: OSSA Standards Team
    url: https://ossa.ai
    email: standards@ossa.ai

# Use standard HTTP status codes
responses:
  '200':
    description: Success
  '400':
    description: Bad Request
    content:
      application/problem+json:  # RFC 7807
        schema:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Problem'
  '401':
    description: Unauthorized
  '403':
    description: Forbidden
  '404':
    description: Not Found
  '429':
    description: Too Many Requests
  '500':
    description: Internal Server Error

# Follow OpenAPI security best practices
components:
  securitySchemes:
    oauth2:
      type: oauth2
      flows:
        authorizationCode:
          authorizationUrl: https://auth.ossa.ai/oauth/authorize
          tokenUrl: https://auth.ossa.ai/oauth/token
          scopes:
            agents:read: Read agent information
            agents:write: Register and update agents

2. JSON Schema Compliance

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "$id": "https://ossa.ai/schemas/v1/agent.json",
  "title": "OSSA 1.0 Agent Schema",
  "description": "JSON Schema for OSSA agent manifests",
  
  "// Use standard JSON Schema keywords":
  "type": "object",
  "required": ["ossaVersion", "agent"],
  "additionalProperties": false,
  
  "// Use $defs for reusable components":
  "$defs": {
    "AgentId": {
      "$comment": "DNS-1123 subdomain (RFC 1123)",
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^[a-z0-9]([-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?$",
      "minLength": 1,
      "maxLength": 253
    }
  },
  
  "// Include metadata for tooling":
  "examples": [...],
  "$comment": "OSSA Specification Version 1.0"
}

3. Kubernetes API Conventions

Follow Kubernetes API conventions for CRDs:

// api/v1/agent_types.go

// Follow k8s API conventions
type AgentSpec struct {
    // Use camelCase for JSON fields
    OssaVersion string `json:"ossaVersion"`
    
    // Embed standard k8s metadata
    metav1.ObjectMeta `json:"metadata,omitempty"`
    
    // Use pointers for optional fields
    Dependencies *[]AgentDependency `json:"dependencies,omitempty"`
}

// Follow k8s status conventions
type AgentStatus struct {
    // Standard status fields
    Phase              AgentPhase `json:"phase"`
    Conditions         []metav1.Condition `json:"conditions"`
    ObservedGeneration int64 `json:"observedGeneration"`
}

// +kubebuilder:object:root=true
// +kubebuilder:subresource:status
// +kubebuilder:printcolumn:name="Phase",type=string,JSONPath=".status.phase"
type Agent struct {
    metav1.TypeMeta   `json:",inline"`
    metav1.ObjectMeta `json:"metadata,omitempty"`
    Spec              AgentSpec   `json:"spec"`
    Status            AgentStatus `json:"status,omitempty"`
}

4. OWASP Compliance

# OWASP Top 10 Compliance Matrix

| OWASP Category | Risk | Mitigation | Status |
|----------------|------|------------|--------|
| A01:2021 - Broken Access Control | Medium | RBAC in registry API | ✅ |
| A02:2021 - Cryptographic Failures | High | TLS 1.3, secure defaults | ✅ |
| A03:2021 - Injection | High | Input validation, parameterized queries | ✅ |
| A04:2021 - Insecure Design | Medium | Threat modeling, secure defaults | ✅ |
| A05:2021 - Security Misconfiguration | Medium | Secure defaults, hardening guide | ✅ |
| A06:2021 - Vulnerable Components | High | Dependency scanning, SCA | ✅ |
| A07:2021 - Identification & Auth Failures | High | OAuth 2.1, MFA support | ✅ |
| A08:2021 - Software & Data Integrity | High | Manifest signing, SLSA | ✅ |
| A09:2021 - Security Logging Failures | Medium | Audit logging, SIEM integration | ✅ |
| A10:2021 - SSRF | Low | URL validation, allowlists | ✅ |

5. SPDX License Identifiers

// package.json
{
  "name": "@ossa/specification",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "license": "Apache-2.0",
  "spdxLicenseExpression": "Apache-2.0",
  "licenses": [
    {
      "type": "Apache-2.0",
      "url": "https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0"
    }
  ]
}

# All source files should include SPDX header
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025 OSSA Standards Team

6. Accessibility Standards (WCAG 2.1 AA)

<!-- Documentation site must meet WCAG 2.1 AA -->

<!-- Proper heading hierarchy -->
<h1>OSSA Specification</h1>
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<h3>Core Concepts</h3>

<!-- Alt text for images -->
<img src="architecture.svg" alt="OSSA architecture diagram showing agent registry, orchestrator, and runtime components">

<!-- Semantic HTML -->
<nav aria-label="Main navigation">
  <ul>
    <li><a href="/spec">Specification</a></li>
    <li><a href="/docs">Documentation</a></li>
  </ul>
</nav>

<!-- Color contrast ratios -->
<style>
  /* Minimum 4.5:1 for normal text */
  body { color: #333; background: #fff; }
  
  /* Minimum 3:1 for large text */
  h1 { color: #000; }
</style>

<!-- Keyboard navigation -->
<button aria-label="Open menu" onclick="toggleMenu()">☰</button>

<!-- Screen reader support -->
<span class="sr-only">Skip to main content</span>

Certification Process

CNCF Certification

Kubernetes Conformance
- Operator passes conformance tests
- CRDs follow API conventions
- Proper RBAC configuration
Cloud Native Trail Map
- Containerization (Docker images)
- CI/CD (GitLab/GitHub Actions)
- Observability (Prometheus metrics)
- Service mesh ready (Istio compatible)

ISO/IEC Standards

ISO/IEC 23894:2023 - AI Risk Management
- Document AI system risks in OSSA deployments
- Risk mitigation strategies
- Safety guidelines
ISO/IEC 42001 - AI Management System
- Governance framework for OSSA
- Quality management
- Continuous improvement

Compliance Checklist

Specification Compliance

OpenAPI 3.1 specification followed
JSON Schema Draft 2020-12 compliance
RFC compliance (7807, 8259, 3986, etc.)
Semantic versioning (semver 2.0.0)
SPDX license identifiers

Security Compliance

OWASP Top 10 compliance matrix
CWE/SANS Top 25 mitigation
NIST Cybersecurity Framework alignment
SLSA Build Level 3 for tooling
OpenSSF Best Practices badge

Kubernetes Compliance

Kubernetes API conventions
KEP (Kubernetes Enhancement Proposal) alignment
CNCF conformance testing
Operator capabilities level IV

Accessibility Compliance

WCAG 2.1 AA for documentation site
Section 508 compliance
ARIA labels and roles
Keyboard navigation

License Compliance

Acceptance Criteria

All standards compliance documented
Compliance matrices published
CNCF conformance certified
OpenSSF Best Practices badge (passing)
WCAG 2.1 AA audit passed
SPDX SBOM generated
Third-party license audit clean
ISO/IEC alignment documented
Industry endorsements obtained

Files to Create

docs/compliance/openapi-alignment.md
docs/compliance/kubernetes-conventions.md
docs/compliance/owasp-matrix.md
docs/compliance/wcag-audit.md
NOTICE - Third-party attributions
SBOM.spdx.json - Software Bill of Materials
docs/compliance/certification-status.md

Industry Organizations

Linux Foundation / CNCF
OpenAPI Initiative
OASIS (standards body)
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42 (AI standards)
IEEE Standards Association