FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) is a set of standards developed by the United States Federal Government for use in computer systems. FIPS 140-2 is the subset of standards which defines approved encryption algorithms used for handling sensitive information.
If your Gateway has been pre-configured to operate in FIPS Mode, the cryptographic modules used by the Gateway are compliant with FIPS-140-2.
FIPS Mode can only be implemented on Email Gateways.
Consequently, in FIPS mode, you will not be able to do the following:
Many organizations handle sensitive information on a regular basis. Government departments, financial institutions and other high security industries require a recognized level of security when exchanging information. FIPS-140-2 provides approved standards for message encryption and data handling, and is a key requirement for an increasing number of organizations. In FIPS Mode, the Gateway is compliant with this requirement.
FIPS Mode provides confidence that the Gateway is handling sensitive and unclassified information to the FIPS 140-2 standard required by US Federal Government.
FIPS-enabled Email Gateways can be peered with other FIPS enabled Gateways. However, FIPS compliance can not be extended to Gateway Peers which are not FIPS enabled.
You can add a FIPS-enabled Email Gateway as a Peer to a Gateway. All subsequent Email Gateway peers must also be FIPS-enabled. Mixed compliance is not permitted for Gateway Peers.
You can only restore FIPS configurations to a FIPS enabled Gateway. This ensures FIPS compliance is maintained consistently on your Gateway or across your Gateway Peers.
You cannot restore a non-FIPS configuration to a FIPS enabled Gateway.
You cannot restore a FIPS configuration to a non-FIPS enabled Gateway.
There are a number of processes that are necessary to the operation of the Gateway which are currently not FIPS compliant. These are described in detail in the FIPS Areas of Non Compliance topic in the Reference section.
FIPS Mode and S/MIME signatures