AST Feb 2020 Magazine AST Feb 2020 Magazine | Page 57

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FIPS 140 is the publication
publ ication of
NIST (the National Institute of
Standards and Technology)
Technology ) that
governs cryptographic modules
- allowed algorithms, minimum
keylengths, and other techno-
logical benchmarks - but also the
methodology to test for con-
formance with an independent-
ly accredited lab and to receive a
validation certificate from NIST’s
Cryptographic Module
Mod ule Valida-
February 2019 - Edition 41
tion Program (CMVP), operated
in conjunction with their Canadi-
an counterpart.
The current standard is FIPS
140-2, , the second iteration,
140-2
and is specified for four levels
of security,
security , addressing various
items such as software oper-
ation at Level 1 and  tamper
evident labels for hardware at
Level 2.
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