Web Commerce Security Design and Development

FIPS

Part of the National Institute of Science and Technology's Information Technology Laboratory (NISTITL, as explained in the “NIST” section later in this appendix), the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)⁸ are publicly announced standards developed by the United States federal government for use in computer systems by all non-military government agencies and by government contractors. Many FIPS standards are modified versions of standards used in the wider community such as ANSI, IEEE, ISO, and so on. Notable FIPS standards are Data Encryption Standard (DES: FIPS 46-3) and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES: FIPS 197).⁹

Under the Information Technology Management Reform Act (Public Law 104–106), the Secretary of Commerce approves standards and guidelines that are developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for federal computer systems. These standards and guidelines are issued by NIST as Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) for use government-wide. NIST develops FIPS when there are compelling Federal government requirements, such as for security and interoperability, and there are no acceptable industry standards or solutions.