Network Deployment (Distributed operating systems), v8.0 > Reference > Developer best practices
Federal Information Processing Standard support
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) are standards and guidelines issued by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for federal government computer systems. FIPS can be enabled for WAS.
FIPS are developed when there are compelling federal government requirements for standards, such as for security and interoperability, but acceptable industry standards or solutions do not exist. Government agencies and financial institutions use these standards to ensure that the products conform to specified security requirements. For more information on these standards, see the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
WAS integrates cryptographic modules including Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) and Java Cryptography Extension (JCE), which have undergone FIPS 140-2 certification. In the WAS documentation, the IBM JSSE and JCE modules that have undergone FIPS certification are referred to as IBMJSSEFIPS and IBMJCEFIPS.
To enable FIPS for WAS, see Configure Federal Information Processing Standard Java Secure Socket Extension files.When you enable FIPS, several components of the Application Server are affected including the cipher suites, the cryptographic providers, the load balancer, the caching proxy, the high availability manager, and the data replication service.
See Secure transports with JSSE and JCE programming interfaces for more information on the impact the Federal Information Processing Standard has on WAS.
We can use the following IBM products with WAS and maintain a FIPS level of security compliance:
The DB2 Universal Database uses FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic providers.
IBM Tivoli Directory Server
The IBM Tivoli Directory Server provides the Use FIPS certified implementation option, which enables the directory server to use the FIPS-certified encryption algorithms. See "Setting the level of encryption" within the IBM Tivoli Directory Server Administration Guide.
WAS - Edge Component
The caching proxy contains a directive for enabling FIPS. See the Cache Proxy Administration Guide. We can find more information about the Federal Information processing Standards (FIPS) on the Support website including recommended updates for WAS.
Related
Validated FIPS 140-1 and FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Modules
Internet Security Group: Cryptography