Mocana reports that its embedded cryptography library has received FIPS 140-2 certification from the US Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The Mocana Crypto Library works with Mocana's Embedded Security Suite (ESS) software products, which target low-powered, small-footprint connected devices running Linux and other embedded OSes.

Mocana says it designed its modular ESS software from the ground up for resource-constrained devices, and that the products require less memory and processor resources than non-embedded-specific security products, such as those based on the open source OpenSSL library. OpenSSL received FIPS 140-2 certification earlier this month.

FIPS 140-2 is short for “Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 140-2,” subtitled “Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules.” The publication defines the highest available certification level for software-only security products, Mocana says. FIPS 140-2 certification is a prerequisite for many government projects, and a yardstick used by private companies to evaluate security products.

Mocana says the Mocana Crypto Library certification was completed by a Cryptographic Modules Testing (CMT) lab accredited by the NIST's National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program. The certification requirements cover eleven areas related to the secure design and implementation of a cryptographic module, and were designed to protect against adversaries mounting cost-effective attacks on sensitive government or commercial data, according to Mocana.

CEO Adrian Turner stated, “Earning this important certification for our crypto module on the first attempt confirms the quality and robustness of Mocana's security solutions, [which can help] organizations meet government security requirements without having to be security experts themselves.”

Availability

Mocana's Crypto Library is available now as portable source code, either separately or as part of Mocana's modular ESS product line. The ESS Suite comprises the following modules: Embedded IPsec/IKE, Embedded SSL Server, Embedded SSL Client, Embedded SSH Server, Embedded SSH Client, and RADIUS Client.

Mocana launched its Embedded Security Suite in June of 2004, just after PeerSec achieved the first stable release of its dual-licensed MatrixSSL product, which also targets embedded systems. Mocana followed up in September with support for additional architectures and cryptography suites, and an IPsec/IKE implementation in December. In March of this year, it added support for Freescale PowerQUICC and ColdFire hardware acceleration.

Prospective customers can register to evaluate ESS source code and documentation free of charge, here, Mocana says.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.