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How would it become less secure? Because newer crypto algos aren't in the set allowed by FIPS?
by gleenn 3y ago
How would it become less secure? Because newer crypto algos aren't in the set allowed by FIPS?
- hedora 3y agoFIPS usually implies a bunch of counterproductive architectural decisions and makes it harder/slower to produce security patches. Also, FIPS used to mandate support for an almost-certainly-backdoored cryptographically secure random number generator, and continued to do so well after it was obviously flawed: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_EC_DRBG https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_EC_DRBG
- patmorgan23 3y agoFIPS is designed for standardization/predictability/interoperability not Security. The only reason to turn it on is if you have a regulatory requirement to do so.
- josephcsible 3y agoLots of reasons. Yours is one, and another is that FIPS disallows you from patching security vulnerabilities in a timely manner.
- Nursie 3y agoLast time I had a FIPS project, which is a long old time now, activating FIPS mode meant disabling weak ciphers but it also meant disabling stuff like DH/DHE key exchange. It seemed to be like that because it's government, and they may want to decode their traffic at a future date, for auditing or leak detection, so 'PFS' measures were not allowed. I am talking about FIPS 140-2 though, and almost 20 years ago!
- starkparker 3y agoIt was still the case a few years ago. I remember working on a client-server application and documenting FIPS requirements hasn't changed all that much.