Certicom Earns FIPS 140-2 Validation on Palm OS

Security Builder GSE, Certicoms core developer toolkit for government, has earned the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 certification for the Palm OS 4.1 platform (certificate No. 351). This makes Security Builder GSE the first developer toolkit to provide a FIPS 140-2 validated module for multiple handheld operating systems. In June, Certicom announced FIPS 140-2 validation on Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Windows CE operating systems. By supporting multiple platforms, Security Builder GSE allows system integrators and original equipment manufacturers to use a common API to quickly and easily embed FIPS validated security into their devices and applications. Security Builder GSE is the core cryptographic module for all Certicom security applications which means movianVPN GSE for Palm and movianCrypt GSE for Palm also meet government security requirements. These products are particularly important to government agencies that need to securely extend their networks to wireless handhelds but are required to use only FIPS 140-2 validated applications. FIPS is considered a benchmark for security within U.S. and Canadian government departments and agencies and is becoming a de facto standard internationally. Products must undergo rigorous testing by an accredited independent lab to satisfy the governments standards. FIPS 140-2 is awarded through the National Institute of Standards and Testing (NIST) and the Canadian Communication Security Establishment (CSE). Along with standard cryptography algorithms such as DES, 3DES, AES, SHA-1 and the RSA public key algorithm, Security Builder GSE also includes Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), a public-key cryptography technique approved by the U.S. government and many standards organizations including ANSI, IETF, IEEE and NIST. Last month, the National Security Agency purchased licensing rights to some of Certicoms ECC intellectual property to protect mission critical national security information. Security Builder GSE is available immediately and is priced with a license fee and royalties based on the number of devices.