NIST 800-171 Requirements for Validated Cryptographic Modules
January 12, 2022 •Walt Paley
While the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) was experiencing growing pains, SafeLogic was working behind the scenes to produce a whitepaper that would properly distill the associated requirements for encryption into easily-digestible content. After many drafts, much discussion, and then an unplanned firedrill late in the game to reflect the broad changes made in CMMC 2.0, we have succeeded.
We took into consideration all of the rumors and official messaging as it was released by the CMMC Accreditation Board (CMMC-AB) and determined early in the process that our whitepaper should be focused on the strict controls in NIST 800-171. While CMMC was intended to cover significantly more, the nuts and bolts of the cryptographic requirements were inherited directly from 800-171 and we embraced the NIST standard as the bedrock of our paper as well. As with most federal programs, the cryptographic prerequisites are well entrenched due to NIST’s significant efforts with the FIPS 140 publications and investment in the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP).
We are proud to publish this whitepaper that gets to the point, will remain accurate even as process maturity is added back into the mix, and is relevant to the thousands of companies in the Defense Industrial Base affected by CMMC. Whether you are evaluating software solutions to keep your operations in compliance, self-attesting and uploading to SPRS, or preparing for an on-site audit, the requirement for FIPS 140 Validated encryption is clear and explicit. We’ll explain why and how to align fully with the controls.
Many thanks to our partner in the development of this paper - Kratos Defense was the first firm to be authorized by the CMMC-AB and their expertise reflects that priority status. We can recommend Kratos without hesitation if you find yourself requiring the services of a C3PAO!
And now, to the whitepaper itself…

Walt Paley
Walter Paley is the VP of Communications for SafeLogic. He is responsible for strategy, content, marketing, and outreach. Walt has worked with a series of start-ups and companies in growth stages, including Nukona (acquired by Symantec), Qubole, Bitzer Mobile (acquired by Oracle), and TigerText, among others. An Alumnus of the psychology program at UC San Diego, Walt lives in Southern California with his wife, kids, and their black lab, Echo.
Popular Posts
Search for posts
Tags
- FIPS 140 (102)
- FIPS validation (83)
- Encryption (68)
- cryptography (63)
- NIST (60)
- CryptoComply (58)
- SafeLogic (58)
- Industry News (54)
- cryptographic module (51)
- Conversations (49)
- CMVP (48)
- RapidCert (46)
- compliance (39)
- Ray Potter (33)
- SafeLogic News (33)
- Event (27)
- federal (27)
- CAVP (23)
- Cybersecurity (22)
- algorithm (22)
- #LoveOurCustomers (15)
- OpenSSL (14)
- government (14)
- CryptoCompact (13)
- Cryptology (12)
- DoD (12)
- FedRAMP (12)
- RSA (12)
- compatible (12)
- partners (12)
- NSA (11)
- healthcare (11)
- AES (9)
- Apple (9)
- Cloud (9)
- FIPS 140-3 (9)
- Wearable (9)
- award (9)
- health (9)
- security (9)
- time (9)
- HIPAA (8)
- Homeland Security (8)
- IoT (8)
- Suite B (8)
- hack (8)
- testing (8)
- whitepaper (8)
- CMMC (7)
- agency (7)
- client (7)
- constrained devices (7)
- Advisories (6)
- Approved Products List (APL) (6)
- HITECH (6)
- holiday (6)
- lab (6)
- vulnerability (6)
- Acumen (5)
- CEO (5)
- Dual EC DRBG (5)
- Google (5)
- Google Glass (5)
- ICMC (5)
- Microsoft (5)
- NIST 800-171 (5)
- NIST 800-53 (5)
- OpenSSL 3.0 (5)
- Safe Harbor (5)
- Wes Higaki (5)
- Whit Diffie (5)
- ePHI (5)
- healthIT (5)
- heartbleed (5)
- mHealth (5)
- procurement (5)
- vulnerable (5)
- C3PAO (4)
- HHS (4)
- HITECH Act (4)
- Mark Minnoch (4)
- Samsung (4)
- Vegas (4)
- archive (4)
- attack (4)
- blog (4)
- breach (4)
- breaches (4)
- deadline (4)
- encrypt (4)
- health IT (4)
- innovation (4)
- military (4)
- procure (4)
- AFCEA (3)
- Air Force (3)
- BSAFE (3)
- BouncyCastle (3)
- CSE (3)
- Common Criteria (3)
- DFARS (3)
- DISA (3)
- EMM (3)
- FIPS 186 (3)
- FIPS-approved (3)
- HIMSS (3)
- HIPAA Safe Harbor (3)
- HITECH Safe Harbor (3)
- Heartbleed Bug (3)
- Implementation Guidance (3)
- Implementation Under Testing (3)
- InfoSec (3)
- NVLAP (3)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (3)
- New Year (3)
- OCR (3)
- OpenSSL 1.1.1 (3)
- PHI (3)
- POA&M (3)
- Snowden (3)
- advisor (3)
- blackberry (3)
- budget (3)
- bug (3)
- competition (3)
- connected (3)
- constrained (3)
- data at rest (3)
- editorial (3)
- forum (3)
- goals (3)
- healthcare IT (3)
- iPhone (3)
- liberty (3)
- magazine (3)
- open source (3)
- patriotic (3)
- privacy (3)
- public sector (3)
- queue (3)
- revalidation (3)
- software (3)
- speaking (3)
- transition (3)
- vulnerabilities (3)
- 3PAO (2)
- ACVP (2)
- BA (2)
- BAA (2)
- CIO (2)
- CSEC (2)
- CSP (2)
- CoIT (2)
- Coalfire (2)
- Cyber Defense Magazine (2)
- Cyberattack (2)
- DIY (2)
- Defense Industrial Base (2)
- Diffie-Hellman (2)
- ECDH (2)
- EHR (2)
- FBI (2)
- FIPS 197 (2)
- FIPS 199 (2)
- FIPS ready (2)
- Facebook (2)
- FinalCode (2)
- Firefox (2)
- Forbes (2)
- HIPAA security controls (2)
- Historical (2)
- Historical Status (2)
- IPsec (2)
- IPsec VPN (2)
- Java (2)
- Jawbone (2)
- Jawbone Up (2)
- Level 1 (2)
- Level 2 (2)
- Level 3 (2)
- Level 4 (2)
- MFA (2)
- MSFT (2)
- Maribel Lopez (2)
- Marine Corps (2)
- Marines (2)
- Mark (2)
- Marquess (2)
- Module in Process (2)
- Mozilla (2)
- NIST 800-111 (2)
- NIST 800-38 (2)
- NSS (2)
- Naughty List (2)
- Navy (2)
- Nest (2)
- Nest thermostat (2)
- Network Security Services (2)
- OpenSSL 1.0.2 (2)
- Pentagon (2)
- Poodle (2)
- President (2)
- RNG (2)
- RSA BSAFE (2)
- RSA Security (2)
- SHA (2)
- SPRS (2)
- SSL (2)
- SSL VPN (2)
- Samsung Galaxy Gear (2)
- San Francisco (2)
- Securonix (2)
- Silicon Valley (2)
- Smart Fridge (2)
- Steve Marquess (2)
- Suite A (2)
- TLS (2)
- TLS 1.3 (2)
- U.S. (2)
- U.S. Armed Forces (2)
- UK (2)
- US (2)
- US Armed Forces (2)
- USA (2)
- Up (2)
- VPN (2)
- Walt Paley (2)
- Webinar (2)
- Wired (2)
- accelerate (2)
- achieving safe harbor (2)
- achieving safe harbor in healthcare (2)
- acquisition (2)
- archive list (2)
- armed forces (2)
- article (2)
- backdoor (2)
- benchmark (2)
- breach notification (2)
- business associate (2)
- business associate agreement (2)
- case study (2)
- checkmark (2)
- code (2)
- competitor (2)
- constrained device (2)
- consultant (2)
- consultants (2)
- consulting (2)
- cost (2)
- cyber terrorism (2)
- data in motion (2)
- developer (2)
- doctor (2)
- entropy (2)
- excellence (2)
- fast (2)
- federal acquisition (2)
- federal procurement (2)
- federal shutdown (2)
- finance (2)
- firmware (2)
- founder (2)
- freedom (2)
- goal (2)
- gold (2)
- guest (2)
- hardware (2)
- hurdle (2)
- hybrid (2)
- iOS 6 (2)
- key management (2)
- leader (2)
- legacy (2)
- mandate (2)
- maturity (2)
- medal (2)
- overlap (2)
- patch (2)
- patches (2)
- patient (2)
- penalties (2)
- pilot (2)
- post-quantum cryptography (2)
- re-validation (2)
- regulated industry (2)
- research (2)
- rival (2)
- security breach (2)
- session (2)
- shutdown (2)
- solution (2)
- speed (2)
- sponsors (2)
- startup (2)
- sunset (2)
- support (2)
- team (2)
- technology (2)
- terrorism (2)
- terrorist (2)
- use case (2)
- vendor (2)
- year (2)
- year end (2)
- (ISC)2 (1)
- 21st Century Cures Act (1)
- Active Status (1)
- Alliance for Digital Innovation (1)
- Amazon (1)
- Android (1)
- Army (1)
- BYOD (1)
- Boeing (1)
- Brent Cook (1)
- Bruce Schneier (1)
- CCEVS (1)
- CES (1)
- CIO Prime Views (1)
- CIO Story (1)
- CIOstory (1)
- CNET (1)
- CNN (1)
- CNSA (1)
- CNSS (1)
- COTS (1)
- CSF (1)
- CTR_DRBG (1)
- CUI (1)
- Cameron (1)
- Chris Conlon (1)
- Columbia University (1)
- Commercial Solutions for Classified (1)
- Cryptographic Technology Group (1)
- Cryptsoft (1)
- CsfC (1)
- Cupertino (1)
- Cyber Monday (1)
- D-FLIP (1)
- DEA (1)
- DES (1)
- DHS (1)
- DIU (1)
- DIUx (1)
- DNA (1)
- DOJ (1)
- Daniel Franke (1)
- David Cameron (1)
- David Hook (1)
- EPCS (1)
- Erlich Bachman (1)
- Extended Support (1)
- FCA (1)
- FF1 (1)
- FF3 (1)
- FIPS Compliance (1)
- FISMA (1)
- FITARA (1)
- FOM (1)
- FOM 2.0 (1)
- FPE (1)
- FUD (1)
- False Claims Act (1)
- Fear and Loathing (1)
- Fed (1)
- Federal IT Sales Summit (1)
- Fitbit (1)
- Florida (1)
- Forbes Magazine (1)
- Fourth of July (1)
- Frank McDonough (1)
- G.18 (1)
- GCHQ (1)
- GNU (1)
- GNU Project (1)
- GSA (1)
- Galaxy (1)
- Galaxy Gear (1)
- Gartner (1)
- Gartner Symposium (1)
- Gavin Belson (1)
- Globo (1)
- GnuPG (1)
- GoBe (1)
- Golden Globes (1)
- Govie (1)
- Govies (1)
- Grammy (1)
- Grammys (1)
- HASH_DRBG (1)
- HBO (1)
- HIIPA (1)
- HIPPA (1)
- HIT (1)
- HITRUST (1)
- HITRUST CSF (1)
- HMAC (1)
- HMAC_DRBG (1)
- HUD (1)
- Healbe (1)
- Heartbeat (1)
- Hebdo (1)
- Hooli (1)
- Hummer (1)
- Humvee (1)
- Hunter S. Thompson (1)
- IBM (1)
- ICMC 2013 (1)
- ICS (1)
- ICS-ISAC (1)
- IPB (1)
- ISO (1)
- ISO 19790 (1)
- ISO 24759 (1)
- ITexpo (1)
- ITexpo West (1)
- ITexpo West 2014 (1)
- Immix (1)
- In Progress (1)
- In Progress List (1)
- Inauguration (1)
- Industrial Control System (1)
- Infogard (1)
- Intel (1)
- Investigatory Powers Bill (1)
- Iron Mountain (1)
- JAR (1)
- JCE (1)
- JITC (1)
- JLTV (1)
- JSSE (1)
- Jack Barker (1)
- Jawbone Up24 (1)
- Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (1)
- KAS (1)
- KBKDF (1)
- Kamala Harris (1)
- Katie Arrington (1)
- Kestler (1)
- Kris van Riper (1)
- LRSB (1)
- Lee (1)
- Lee Kestler (1)
- Legacy List (1)
- Legacy Validation List (1)
- Legion (1)
- LibreSSL (1)
- LinkedIn (1)
- Linux (1)
- Lockheed (1)
- Lockheed Martin (1)
- Lopez Research (1)
- MDMPP (1)
- MDPP (1)
- MIT (1)
- MWC (1)
- Macintosh (1)
- Marissa Mayer (1)
- Mark Amtower (1)
- Matt Caswell (1)
- Matt Cornelius (1)
- Matthew Cornelius (1)
- Matthew Green (1)
- Maturity Model (1)
- Memorial Day (1)
- Michael Leonard (1)
- MicroStrategy (1)
- Microsoft Surface (1)
- Miramar (1)
- Multifactor (1)
- NCSL (1)
- NSA Suite B (1)
- Nevada (1)
- Nike+ (1)
- Nobel (1)
- North Korea (1)
- Northrup (1)
- Northrup Grumman (1)
- OCS (1)
- OMB (1)
- ONC (1)
- OSL (1)
- OSSL 1.1 (1)
- OSSL Foundation (1)
- OVS (1)
- Office 365 (1)
- Oracle (1)
- Orlando (1)
- Oscars (1)
- Osh Kosh (1)
- Oshkosh (1)
- Outlook (1)
- Oval Office (1)
- P-256 (1)
- P-384 (1)
- PC Mag (1)
- PCI (1)
- PCI-DSS (1)
- PIN (1)
- PIN code (1)
- PIN number (1)
- PM (1)
- PQC (1)
- PRISM (1)
- Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption (1)
- Palazzo (1)
- Palo Alto (1)
- Paris (1)
- Pence (1)
- Pied Piper (1)
- Pilgrims (1)
- Poison (1)
- Poodlebleed (1)
- Presidency (1)
- Prime Minister (1)
- Prius (1)
- Protection Profiles (1)
- Pulse Secure (1)
- Q4 (1)
- Quantum Dawn (1)
- Quest (1)
- RAR (1)
- REDCOM (1)
- RFP (1)
- Ralph C. Jensen (1)
- Ralph Jensen (1)
- Raytheon (1)
- Readiness Assessment Report (1)
- Rebranding (1)
- Redmond (1)
- Richard Hendricks (1)
- Rijndael (1)
- Rohit Sethi (1)
- Ryan Thomas (1)
- SC Magazine (1)
- SC-13 (1)
- SC-28 (1)
- SC-8 (1)
- SLED (1)
- SP (1)
- SP 800-113 (1)
- SP 800-56 (1)
- SP 800-77 (1)
- SP800-131A (1)
- SP800-90A (1)
- SSLv3 (1)
- Samsung Galaxy (1)
- Sands (1)
- Sands Expo (1)
- Satcom (1)
- Schneier (1)
- Sean Kerner (1)
- SecureAuth (1)
- Security B-Sides (1)
- Security Compass (1)
- SecurityToday (1)
- September 22 (1)
- Sergey Brin (1)
- Seth Rosenblatt (1)
- Sethi (1)
- Signal Magazine (1)
- Simon (1)
- Skipjack (1)
- Skunk Works (1)
- Skunkworks (1)
- Skydrive (1)
- Snooper's Charter (1)
- Softshell (1)
- Sony (1)
- Speck (1)
- Squanto (1)
- St Regis (1)
- StateRAMP (1)
- Steve Jobs (1)
- Surface (1)
- Susan McAndrew (1)
- Sweet32 (1)
- Symantec (1)
- TLS 1.1 (1)
- TLS 1.2 (1)
- TSMC (1)
- Taming the Transition (1)
- Taming the Transition: Marketing & Sales Tacti (1)
- Tanuj Gulati (1)
- Target (1)
- Target breach (1)
- Tesla (1)
- Theresa May (1)
- Thomas (1)
- Tim Hudson (1)
- Tisquantum (1)
- Tizen (1)
- Tom Cruise (1)
- Toyota (1)
- Toyota Prius (1)
- Triple DES (1)
- Trump (1)
- U.K. (1)
- U.S. Air Force (1)
- U.S. Army (1)
- U.S. Marines (1)
- U.S. Military (1)
- U.S. Navy (1)
- US Air Force (1)
- US Army (1)
- US Marines (1)
- US Military (1)
- US Navy (1)
- USMC (1)
- United Kingdom (1)
- United States (1)
- United States of America (1)
- Up24 (1)
- Vectra (1)
- Vectra Networks (1)
- Venetian (1)
- Verify (1)
- WEST (1)
- WEST 2020 (1)
- Wall Street (1)
- Weaved (1)
- Websense (1)
- WhatsApp (1)
- White House (1)
- Wiebe (1)
- Wired.co.uk (1)
- Wireless U (1)
- WolfSSL (1)
- Yahoo (1)
- Yier Jin (1)
- Yoics (1)
- You're fired! (1)
- Yubico (1)
- abbreviation (1)
- abbreviations (1)
- achieve (1)
- acronym (1)
- acronyms (1)
- administration (1)
- advantage (1)
- appointee (1)
- archival (1)
- assurance (1)
- authentication (1)
- autumn (1)
- aviation (1)
- background (1)
- ban (1)
- banish (1)
- banished (1)
- banishment (1)
- banned (1)
- batterygate (1)
- benchmarks (1)
- best (1)
- bid (1)
- blue angel (1)
- blue angels (1)
- bold (1)
- browser (1)
- bugs (1)
- calendar (1)
- capitol (1)
- certicom (1)
- challenge (1)
- champ (1)
- champion (1)
- channel (1)
- checklist (1)
- checkmarks (1)
- chief (1)
- chip (1)
- chipgate (1)
- choice (1)
- choose (1)
- chosen (1)
- cipher (1)
- citizen (1)
- citizenship (1)
- co-founder (1)
- codebase (1)
- codies (1)
- comment period (1)
- comparison (1)
- compete (1)
- competitive (1)
- competitive advantage (1)
- complaint (1)
- complaints (1)
- complete (1)
- concurrent (1)
- confusion (1)
- congress (1)
- contract (1)
- crime (1)
- criminal (1)
- critical infrastructure (1)
- cryptographer (1)
- cybertech (1)
- data (1)
- data center (1)
- data centers (1)
- data security (1)
- dates (1)
- david hume (1)
- debt ceiling (1)
- decryption (1)
- deploy (1)
- deployment (1)
- development (1)
- dictionary (1)
- differentiator (1)
- disambiguate (1)
- download (1)
- drones (1)
- eBay (1)
- eBay breach (1)
- eHealth (1)
- eWeek (1)
- editor (1)
- editor-in-chief (1)
- effort (1)
- elliptic curve cryptography (1)
- embedded (1)
- emerging (1)
- engineer (1)
- engineering (1)
- enterprise security (1)
- executive (1)
- exhibit (1)
- exhibit hall (1)
- expectations (1)
- expert (1)
- expertise (1)
- experts (1)
- expiration (1)
- expire (1)
- extended (1)
- fall (1)
- faq (1)
- finalist (1)
- finalists (1)
- financial (1)
- fines (1)
- fintech (1)
- fips inside (1)
- fiscal (1)
- fiscal year (1)
- fitness tracker (1)
- fitness trackers (1)
- fix (1)
- fixes (1)
- flight (1)
- forecast (1)
- format-preserving (1)
- format-preserving encryption (1)
- fraud (1)
- frempetitor (1)
- frempetitors (1)
- frenemies (1)
- frenemy (1)
- furlough (1)
- future (1)
- global (1)
- globee (1)
- glossary (1)
- goose (1)
- gotcha (1)
- gov (1)
- gov't (1)
- guest blog (1)
- guest post (1)
- hashed (1)
- head-to-head (1)
- heads up displays (1)
- hill (1)
- hiring freeze (1)
- history (1)
- home automation (1)
- homeland (1)
- honor (1)
- honored (1)
- hospital (1)
- human rights (1)
- hume (1)
- humor (1)
- hurdles (1)
- iMessage (1)
- iOS (1)
- iOS 7 (1)
- iPad (1)
- iToilet (1)
- industry (1)
- intellectual property (1)
- interim final rule (1)
- international (1)
- interview (1)
- issues (1)
- kratos (1)
- launch (1)
- law enforcement (1)
- libgcrypt (1)
- malicious (1)
- maverick (1)
- medals (1)
- medical (1)
- medicine (1)
- meek (1)
- milestone (1)
- mobile security (1)
- mobility (1)
- mocana (1)
- money (1)
- multi-factor (1)
- multi-factor authentication (1)
- musings (1)
- national cybersecurity strategy (1)
- naval aviator (1)
- need for speed (1)
- neglect (1)
- network (1)
- new (1)
- new OSSL (1)
- news (1)
- nominate (1)
- nominated (1)
- nominee (1)
- nominees (1)
- offload (1)
- opportunities (1)
- opportunity (1)
- outsource (1)
- panel (1)
- parallel (1)
- passwords (1)
- past (1)
- patient data (1)
- philosopher (1)
- philosophy (1)
- physician (1)
- piece (1)
- pilots (1)
- plane (1)
- plans (1)
- platinum (1)
- post (1)
- presentation (1)
- press release (1)
- priorities (1)
- priority (1)
- prize (1)
- profile (1)
- proposal (1)
- proposed (1)
- proud (1)
- provider (1)
- public (1)
- public comment (1)
- public comment period (1)
- public list (1)
- quant (1)
- quant self (1)
- quantified (1)
- quantified self (1)
- queue length (1)
- quinquennial (1)
- re-validate (1)
- reflection (1)
- regulations (1)
- representatives (1)
- required (1)
- requirement (1)
- researchers (1)
- reseller (1)
- revalidate (1)
- revenue (1)
- revoke (1)
- revoked (1)
- rights (1)
- rivals (1)
- roadblock (1)
- roadmap (1)
- rsa conference (1)
- sales (1)
- salted (1)
- savings (1)
- scalability (1)
- season (1)
- security software (1)
- select (1)
- selected (1)
- selection (1)
- self-driving (1)
- self-driving car (1)
- senate (1)
- senators (1)
- server (1)
- servers (1)
- silver (1)
- simplify (1)
- smart cars (1)
- smart home (1)
- smart toilet (1)
- smartwatch (1)
- sole source provider (1)
- sole-source (1)
- speak (1)
- speaking session (1)
- specialization (1)
- stand for (1)
- standards (1)
- start-up (1)
- state (1)
- stealth mode (1)
- stigma (1)
- story (1)
- strategy (1)
- success (1)
- summer (1)
- sunet (1)
- sunset date (1)
- sunsetted (1)
- symposium (1)
- talk (1)
- tech (1)
- technical (1)
- term (1)
- terminology (1)
- terms (1)
- threat detection (1)
- threats (1)
- toilet (1)
- top gun (1)
- training (1)
- trophy (1)
- unicorn (1)
- use cases (1)
- value (1)
- vendors (1)
- website (1)
- whining (1)
- whistleblower (1)
- whistleblowing (1)
- wifi (1)
- wrap (1)
- wrap-up (1)