National Security Agency (NSA) Suite B Cryptography

The government of the Unites States of America produces technical advice on IT systems and security, including data encryption. The US National Security Agency (NSA) recommends a set of interoperable cryptographic algorithms in its Suite B standard.

The Suite B standard specifies a mode of operation in which only a specific set of secure cryptographic algorithms are used. The Suite B standard specifies:

  • The encryption algorithm (AES)
  • The key exchange algorithm (Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman, also known as ECDH)
  • The digital signature algorithm (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, also known as ECDSA)
  • The hashing algorithms (SHA-256 or SHA-384)

Additionally, the IETF RFC 6460 standard specifies Suite B compliant profiles which define the detailed application configuration and behavior necessary to comply with the Suite B standard. It defines two profiles:

  1. A Suite B compliant profile for use with TLS 1.2. When configured for Suite B compliant operation, only the restricted set of cryptographic algorithms listed are used.
  2. A transitional profile for use with TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1. This profile enables interoperability with non-Suite B compliant servers. When configured for Suite B transitional operation, additional encryption and hashing algorithms may be used.

The Suite B standard is conceptually similar to FIPS 140-2, because it restricts the set of enabled cryptographic algorithms in order to provide an assured level of security.

On Windows, UNIX and Linux systems, IBM MQ, can be configured to conform to the Suite B compliant TLS 1.2 profile, but does not support the Suite B transitional profile. For further information, see NSA Suite B Cryptography in IBM MQ.

Parent topic: Cryptographic security protocols: TLS


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