Adjusting to the new world of NIST cryptographic module standards
We have had a number of queries recently at Cryptosense from people trying to figure out what FIPS 140-3 is, and how they can supply a FIPS 140-3 compliant solution to their customers.
To make sense of this question we first need to understand a little background. Maintained by NIST, the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) gives guidance to external suppliers regarding the standards their products have to reach for use by the US Government. Over time, they have become de facto standards for other sectors and other countries.