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Cryptographic Standards
SecretAgent 5.6 and above fully satisfy NIST FIPS 140-2 and NSTISSP No. 11 acquisition requirements for COTS security and information assurance products.
SecretAgent 5.x uses ISC-developed implementations of the
following standards-compliant cryptographic schemes and protocols.
(Releases 5.6 and above contain cryptographic modules built upon
our CDK
7.0. NIST algorithm certificates may be viewed by clicking the
appropriate link below or those in this table.
The FIPS 140-1 certificate is here.)
Encryption Algorithms:
Key Exchange Mechanisms:
- RSA (generates 1024/2048/4096/8192-bit keys; supports all recipient
key sizes from 512 to 16384 bits; ANSI X9.31; IEEE 1363-2000; RFC2313;
PKCS#1v1.5)
- Diffie-Hellman (1024/2048/4096-bit keys; ANSI X9.42-1998; IEEE
1363-2000)
- ECDH (supports 163/233/283/409/571-bit NIST curves in char.
2, 192/224/256/384/521-bit NIST curves in char. p; FIPS
186-2; ANSI X9.42-1988; IEEE 1363-2000)
- KEA
(SDN.701; requires a FORTEZZA card)
Digital Signature Schemes:
- DSA (1024/2048/4096-bit keys; FIPS
186-2; ANSI X9.30-1997) [NIST
DSA Certificate #65]
- RSA (generates 1024/2048/4096/8192-bit keys; supports all key
sizes from 512 to 16384 bits; FIPS
186-2; ANSI X9.31-1998; PKCS#1
v.1.5)
- ECDSA (supports 163/233/283/409/571-bit NIST curves in char.
2, 192/224/256/384/521-bit NIST curves in char. p; FIPS
186-2; ANSI X9.62-1988; IEEE 1363-2000)
Message Authentication Codes:
Public Key Infrastructure Support:
- X.509 version 3 RSA, DSA, or ECC certificates (from binary
or base64-encoded ASN.1 DER files,
or PKCS#7 files)
- PKCS#10 RSA/DSA/ECC certificate requests
- Optional CRL support (may be made mandatory using PolicyAgent)
- IETF PKIX key usage certificate extensions (encrypt-and-sign,
encrypt-only, sign-only)
- LDAP repository access for certificate retrieval/certificate
status
- Local and network certificate database access
- Self-signed X.509 certificates for use without a PKI
Encoding & Compression Options:
- A Lempel-Ziv variant (LZSS) is provided for the optional compression
of plaintext prior to encryption
- A base64 encoding function is provided for the optional encoding
of ciphertext
- MSP output (SDN.701; requires a FORTEZZA card and special SecretAgent build)
Secure File/Disk Erasure:
- integrated file erasure and free space wiping utility conforms
to the latest
Department of Defense National Industrial Security Program OManual (NISPOM) January 1995 (DoD
5220.22-M, Section 8-306, Clearing and Sanitization Matrix method d: "Overwrite all addressable locations with a character, its complement, then a random character and verify.")
X.509 Interoperability
SecretAgent 5 uses standard X.509 version 3 certificates with optional
chain validation and CRL checking in compliance with RFC3280. On
most platforms, SecretAgent can generate standard PKCS#10 certificate
requests (for use with an existing CA) or X.509 version 3 self-signed
certificates (for operation without a formal PKI). We have performed
interoperability testing with all major Certificate Authorities
and PKI vendors (e.g., Baltimore, Entrust, Verisign, XCert).
In October 2002, SecretAgent 5.6 for Windows passed interoperability
testing at DISA's JITC
PKE Certification Lab at Ft. Huachuca and has received formal
certification of full compliance with the DoD PKI. (JITC's Interoperability
Test Summary.) The JITC test was based on NIST's "Conformance Testing of Relying Party Client Certificate Path Procesing Logic," Version 1.07, Sept. 28, 2001. SecretAgent 5.7 also passes these tests.
SecretAgent 5.8 through 5.10 were designed for full compliance with the recently expanded NIST "Public Key Interoperability Test Suite (PKITS) Certificate Path Validation," Version 1.0, Sept. 2, 2004. The Path Validation Modules (PVMs) in these builds are also "(Federal) Bridge-Enabled," satisfying all requirements in Sections 3 and 4 of NIST Draft Special Publication 800-XXX, NIST Recommendation for X.509 Path Validation, Version 0.5, May 3, 2004.
File Formats
In addition to the native .sa5 file format supported by SecretAgent
on all platforms, Release 5.7 and above for Windows, UNIX, and Mac OS X support
the following:
- S/MIME v3 CMS (RFC3852)
— encrypt/decrypt/sign/validate; support for enveloped and
detached signatures included
Releases 5.7-5.9 for Windows also support:
- OpenPGP (RFC2440)
— certificate-based encrypt/decrypt only; OpenPGP signatures are
not supported
CMS support provides interoperability with several S/MIME v3 clients,
such as Microsoft Outlook Express and OpenSSL. OpenPGP support provides
interoperability with PGP 6/7/8, Gnu Privacy Guard, and other RFC2440-compliant
applications.
OpenPGP interoperability matrixpenPGP interoperability matrix.
Addressing a Popular FIPS 140-2 vs. FIPS 140-1 Misconception
Even though 140-2 is the current standard, products validated under 140-1 have not been deprecated. According to NIST, U.S. Government "agencies may continue to purchase, retain and use FIPS 140-1 validated modules after May 25, 2002. Modules validated as conforming to FIPS 140-1 and FIPS 140-2 are accepted by the Federal Agencies of both [the U.S. and Canada] for the protection of sensitive information." Furthermore, "Cryptographic modules that have been approved for classified use may be used in lieu of modules that have been validated against this standard [FIPS 140-2]." (Quoted text taken from NIST website on 3/26/07.)
Contact ISC for further information
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