Adequate security of information and information systems is a fundamental management responsibility. Nearly all applications that deal with financial, privacy, safety, or defense include some form of access (authorization) control. Access control is concerned with determining the allowed activities of legitimate users, mediating every attempt by a user to access a resource in the system. In some systems, complete access is granted after s successful authentication of the user, but most systems...
Access control systems are among the most critical security components. Faulty policies, misconfigurations, or flaws in software implementation can result in serious vulnerabilities. The specification of access control policies is often a challenging problem. Often a system’s privacy and security are compromised due to the misconfiguration of access control policies instead of the failure of cryptographic primitives or protocols. This problem becomes increasingly severe as software systems...
Society recognizes cryptography’s important role in protecting sensitive information from unauthorized disclosure or modification. However, the correct and bug-free implementation of a cryptographic algorithm and the environment in which it executes are critical for security. To assess the security aspects related to real hardware and software cryptographic implementations, NIST established the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) in 1995 to validate cryptographic modules against the...
The Algorithms for Intrusion Measurement (AIM) project furthers measurement science in the area of algorithms used in the field of intrusion detection. The team focuses on both new detection metrics and measurements of scalability (more formally algorithmic complexity). This analysis is applied to different phases of the detection lifecycle to include pre-emptive vulnerability analysis, initial attack detection, alert impact, alert aggregation/correlation, and compact log storage. In performing...
CSD’s macOS security configuration team is working to develop secure system configuration baselines supporting different operational environments for Apple macOS version 10.12, “Sierra.” These configuration guidelines will assist organizations with hardening macOS technologies and provide a basis for unified controls and settings for federal macOS workstation and mobile system security configurations. The configurations are based on a collection of resources, including the existing NIST macOS...
AppVet is a web application for managing and automating the app vetting process. AppVet facilitates the app vetting workflow by providing an intuitive user interface for submitting and testing apps, managing reports, and assessing risk. Through the specification of APIs, schemas and requirements, AppVet is designed to easily and seamlessly integrate with a wide variety of clients including users, apps stores, and continuous integration environments as well as third-party tools including...
The concept of Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) has existed for many years. It represents a point on the spectrum of logical access control from simple access control lists to more capable role-based access, and finally to a highly flexible method for providing access based on the evaluation of attributes. In November 2009, the Federal Chief Information Officers Council (Federal CIO Council) published the Federal Identity, Credential, and Access Management (FICAM) Roadmap and...
Combinatorial methods can reduce costs for software testing significantly. They may also be one of the few practical approaches for assurance in AI and machine learning, especially for autonomous systems, where many conventional methods cannot be used. Combinatorial methods have two primary applications in software engineering: Combinatorial or t-way testing is a proven method for more effective testing at lower cost. The key insight underlying its effectiveness resulted from a series...
The Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program (CAVP) and the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) were established on July 17, 1995 by NIST to validate cryptographic modules conforming to the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-1, Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules, and other FIPS cryptography based standards. FIPS 140-2 was released on May 25, 2001 and supersedes FIPS 140-1. The current implementation of the CMVP is shown in Figure 1 below. The CAVP is a...
Public Law 100-235, "The Computer Security Act of 1987," mandated NIST and OPM to create guidelines on computer security awareness and training based on functional organizational roles. Guidelines were produced in the form of NIST Special Publication 800-16 titled, "Information Technology Security Training Requirements: A Role- and Performance-Based Model." The learning continuum modeled in this guideline provides the relationship between awareness, training, and education. The publication also...
The Computer Security Division (CSD) supports the development of national and international biometric standards and promotes conformity assessment through: Participation in the development of biometric standards Sponsorship of conformance testing methodology standard projects Development of associated conformance test architectures and test suites Leadership in national (link is external) and international (link is external) standards development bodies Visit the Biometric Conformance...
Approved Algorithms Currently, there are two (2) Approved* block cipher algorithms that can be used for both applying cryptographic protection (e.g., encryption) and removing or verifying the protection that was previously applied (e.g., decryption): AES and Triple DES. Two (2) other block cipher algorithms were previously approved: DES and Skipjack; however, their approval has been withdrawn. See the discussions below for further information; also see SP 800-131A Rev. 1, Transitions:...
The Bugs Framework (BF) organizes software weaknesses (bugs) into distinct classes, such as Buffer Overflow (BOF), Injection (INJ), and Control of Interaction Frequency (CIF). Each BF class has an accurate and precise definition and comprises: Level (high or low) that identifies the fault as language-related or semantic; Attributes that identify the software fault; Causes that bring about the fault; Consequences the fault could lead to; and Sites in code where the fault might occur. You will be...
Circuit complexity is a topic of great relevance to cryptography. Optimization of circuits leads to efficiency improvement in a wide range of algorithms and protocols, such as for symmetric-key and public-key cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs and secure multi-party computation. The circuit complexity project has two main goals: improve our understanding of the circuit complexity of Boolean functions and vectorial Boolean functions; develop...
NIST Cloud Computing Program Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics (On-demand self-service, Broad network access, Resource pooling, Rapid...
Information objects that convey information used to maintain the security of resources in computerized environments are known as Computer Security Objects (CSOs). The Computer Security Objects Register (CSOR) specifies names that uniquely identify CSOs. These unique names are used to reference these objects in abstract specifications and during the negotiation of security services for a transaction or application. The CSOR is also a repository of parameters associated with the registered...
To advance the state of the art in continuous monitoring capabilities and to further interoperability within commercially available tools, the Computer Security Division is working within the international standards development community to establish working groups and to author and comment on emerging technical standards in this area. The CAESARS-FE reference architecture will evolve as greater consensus is developed around interoperable, standards-based approaches that enable continuous...
The Computer Security Division hosts Crypto Reading Club talks to foster research and collaboration in cryptography. When: Wednesday (bi-weekly), 10:00am-12:00pm (Eastern Time), unless noted otherwise. Where: NIST Building 222, Room B341 Gaithersburg, MD 20899 NIST Visitor Information Email List: Meeting reminders will be sent to subscribers of the Crypto Reading Club List. To be added to the list and/or give a...
The NIST Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program (CAVP) provides validation testing of Approved (i.e., FIPS-approved and NIST-recommended) cryptographic algorithms and their individual components. Cryptographic algorithm validation is a prerequisite of cryptographic module validation. Vendors may use any of the NVLAP-accredited Cryptographic and Security Testing (CST) Laboratories to test algorithm implementations. An algorithm implementation successfully tested by a lab and validated by...
Welcome to the CMVP The Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) is a joint effort between the National Institute of Standards and Technology under the Department of Commerce and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, a branch of the Communications Security Establishment. The goal of the CMVP is to promote the use of validated cryptographic modules and provide Federal agencies with a security metric to use in procuring equipment containing validated cryptographic modules. Cryptographic...
Users of the former "Crypto Toolkit" can now find that content under this project. It includes cryptographic primitives, algorithms and schemes are described in some of NIST's Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), Special Publications (SPs) and NIST Internal/Interagency Reports (NISTIRs). Crypto Standards and Guidelines Activities Block Cipher Techniques Digital Signatures Hash Functions Key Management Lightweight Cryptography (LWC) Message Authentication Codes (MACs)...
In 2013, news reports about leaked classified documents caused concern from the cryptographic community about the security of NIST cryptographic standards and guidelines. NIST is also deeply concerned by these reports, some of which have questioned the integrity of the NIST standards development process. NIST has a proud history in open cryptographic standards, beginning in the 1970s with the Data Encryption Standard. We strive for a consistently open and transparent process that enlists the...
Information and operational technology (IT/OT) relies on a complex, globally distributed, and interconnected supply chain ecosystem to provide highly refined, cost-effective, and reusable solutions. This ecosystem is composed of various entities with multiple tiers of outsourcing, diverse distribution routes, assorted technologies, laws, policies, procedures, and practices, all of which interact to design, manufacture, distribute, deploy, use, maintain, and manage IT/OT products and services....
The Computer Security Division is working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop guidance on Computer Security Incident Coordination (CSIC). The goal of CSIC is to help diverse collections of organizations to effectively collaborate in the handling of computer security incidents. Effective collaboration raises numerous issues on how and when to share information between organizations, and in what form information should be shared. Because different organizations may have...
The Cybersecurity Framework is voluntary guidance, based on existing standards, guidelines, and practices, for critical infrastructure organizations to better manage and reduce cybersecurity risk. In addition to helping organizations manage and reduce risks, it was designed to foster risk and cybersecurity management communications amongst both internal and external organizational stakeholders. *Federal agencies do have requirements to implement the Cybersecurity Framework; see the U.S. Federal...
