NIST takes on risk management and PIV card security

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

NIST has finalized three publications that give guidelines for using a risk management framework and for securing certificates and data on PIV cards.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released updated versions of three publications with guidelines for securing government information systems and protecting data on Personal Identity Verification cards.

Special Publication 800-37, Revision 1, “Guide for Applying the Risk Management Framework to Federal Information Systems: A Security Life Cycle Approach,” caps a three-year effort to harmonize IT certification and accreditation across the civilian, defense and intelligence communities. It is the second in a series of publications being developed by a Joint Task Force Transformation Initiative, a partnership between NIST, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Defense Department and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) to create a common information security framework for agencies and contractors.

SP 800-73-3, “Interfaces for Personal Identity Verification,” is published in four parts and includes new optional features for PIV cards including on-card retention of retired Key Management keys and corresponding X.509 certificates for decrypting data encryption keys; the use of the ECDH key establishment scheme with the Key Management Key, as specified in SP 800-78-2; and provisions for Non-Federal Issuer credentials.

SP 800-78-2, “Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Sizes for Personal Identity Verification,” has been updated to re-align with the Suite B Cryptography specification and with the recently published Federal Information Procession Standards.

For the past three years, NIST has been working in partnership with ODNI, DOD and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) to develop a common information security framework for the federal government and its contractors. The first publication produced under the Joint Task Force was Revision 3 of SP 800-53, “Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations.” The task force released that report in July, and created a common security control catalog for the government and private-sector security communities.

NIST called the second publication, the revised version of SP 800-53, historic in that it unified security controls, reflecting the security requirements of both the national security community and the rest of government. Greater emphasis now is placed on three critical areas:

  • Building information security capabilities into systems through the application of state-of-the-practice management, operational and technical security controls.
  • Maintaining awareness of the security state of systems on an ongoing basis though enhanced monitoring.
  • Understanding and accepting the risk to operations and assets, individuals, other organizations and the nation posed by the use of these systems.

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 mandated the creation of new standards for interoperable identity credentials for physical and logical access to Federal government locations and systems. Those standards are implemented in the PIV Card, the civilian counterpart of the military’s Common Access Card. SP 800-73-3 defines interfaces for the card and is being published in four parts.

Federal Information Processing Standard 201 (FIPS 201), “Personal Identity Verification of Federal Employees and Contractors,” established standards for identity credentials. SP 800-78-2, specifies the cryptographic algorithms and key sizes for PIV systems and is a companion document to FIPS 201.

This revision makes a number of changes in SP 800-78, including:

  • The National Security Agency’s Suite B Cryptography specification removed Elliptic Curve MQV as an NSA-approved key exchange method. To re-align with Suite B, Elliptic Curve MQV is discontinued in SP800-78-2 as a key agreement scheme for the PIV card.
  • The final release of FIPS 186-3 Digital Signature Standard, published in June 2009, does not list RSA 4096 as an approved digital signature algorithm and key size for use in the federal government. To comply with FIPS 186-3, SP 800-78-2 accordingly removes RSA 4096 as an algorithm and key size for generating signatures for PIV data objects.
  • For symmetric authentication purposes (challenge and response), the Cipher Block Chaining mode of encryption is redundant to the Electronic Code Bock mode of encryption. To remove the redundant implementation, CBC has been discontinued in SP 800-78-2.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.