Re: [Cfrg] On "non-NIST"

[Paul Hoffman <[e-mail]>]

On Feb 28, 2015, at 3:41 PM, Watson Ladd <[e-mail]> wrote:
> Safenet's Luna SA Network-attached HSM claims FIPS 140-2 Level 3
> certification and support Brainpool. Granted, I only know about this
> because it's the one Amazon provides and I had occasion to read the
> documentation.
> 
> But you're right that somehow we may need HSM and certification. But
> this works fine for Brainpool, despite not NIST, and there are
> alternatives to FIPS testing for HSMS for use with PKI.
> 
> Source: http://www.safenet-inc.com/data-encryption/hardware-security-modules-hsms/luna-hsms-key-management/luna-sa-network-hsm/#content-left

On Feb 28, 2015, at 3:51 PM, Scott Fluhrer (sfluhrer) <[e-mail]> wrote:
> We have a number of level 2 certified devices that can be configured with
> non-FIPS approved algorithms.  The lab (and the CMVP) were satisfied with
> documentation that said "to be in FIPS mode, the device must be configured
> this way".  Presumably the same logic can work for an HSM.

These are good to hear, and I apologize for my lack of up-to-date information on getting Level 2+ certification in mixed-crypto devices. I still hope NIST will quickly allow certification of whatever curves and signature algorithms the CFRG recommends to the TLS WG, of course, but it does not seem like a blocking factor for vendors to include them in their devices.

--Paul Hoffman