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 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.
WebSphere Application Server integrates cryptographic modules including Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) and Java Cryptography Extension (JCE), which have undergone FIPS 140-2 certification. In the WebSphere Application Server documentation, the IBM JSSE and JCE modules that have undergone FIPS certification are referred to as IBMJSSEFIPS and IBMJCEFIPS.
To enable FIPS for WebSphere Application Server, see Configuring 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.
You can find more information about the Federal Information processing Standards (FIPS) on the Support Web site including recommended updates for WebSphere Application Server.
Related concepts
Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specification
Related information
Validated FIPS 140-1 and FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Modules
Internet Security Group: Cryptography