What is FIPS 140-2?

Certified by NIST/CSEC’s Cryptographic Module Validation Program

What Organizations Require FIPS-Compliant File Transfer?

The organizations below are required to use FIPS-compliant cryptography by law:

• U.S. federal and state government agencies that deal with citizens’ private information
• The U.S. military and its vendors working with sensitive but unclassified data
• Vendors, suppliers and third parties selling cryptographic modules to the federal government or using these modules in support of their services

Industries that deal with sensitive data requiring high levels of privacy for regulatory or security reasons will often require the FIPS 140-2 standard as well. These industries include:  

• Financial institutions
• Information-processing vendors
• Healthcare-related organizations that fall under HIPAA regulation 
• Educational institutions
• Utilities

However, the FIPS 140-2 standard can be used any organization that wishes to transfer files securely, safeguard business data, and protect its most critical information. 

What Does it Mean to be FIPS 140-2 Compliant?

A FIPS-validated solution must use cryptographic algorithms and hash functions that meet the FIPS requirements. Specifically, a FIPS-validated solution must:

1. Use algorithms and hash functions approved by FIPS 140-2
2. Be validated by the joint NIST/CSEC Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP)

Cerberus FTP Server FIPS 140-2 Compliance

Cerberus FTP Server uses an embedded FIPS 140-2-validated cryptographic module (Certificate #3503 using KeyPair FIPS Object Module for OpenSSL) for all cryptographic operations and meets federal cryptographic requirements with FIPS 140-2 validated cryptography up to 256-bit AES encryption over SSL and SSH.

Cerberus FTP Server Editions