FIPS 140 Compliance#

FIPS 140 (Federal Information Processing Standard 140) is a US and Canadian government standard for cryptographic modules. If you sell software to US federal agencies, process federal data, or operate under FedRAMP, you must use FIPS 140-validated cryptographic modules. Many regulated industries (finance, healthcare, defense) also require or strongly prefer FIPS compliance.

FIPS 140 does not tell you which algorithms to use — it validates that a specific implementation of those algorithms has been tested and certified by an accredited lab (CMVP — Cryptographic Module Validation Program).