Windows Embedded Compact 7 achieves important security certification

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Posted By Colin Murphy
Product Marketing Manager, Windows Embedded

Wouldn’t you like robust security to protect your data communication from malicious intent? Well, of course you would, and most government and military organizations require Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 protection to secure highly sensitive data communications. FIPS is essentially a series of standards and mandates for U.S. government agencies and supporting contractors. In many cases, if your device or service is not FIPS compliant/certified, then the government agency can’t use it. This also applies to other business enterprises in financial, healthcare and manufacturing industries that also need FIPS 140-2 to safeguard their informational assets and comply with government regulations.

The good news for small-footprint devices based on Windows Embedded Compact 7 is that they are now FIPS 140-2 certified. Windows Embedded Compact 7 has achieved Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 Level 1 certification from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Level 1 validation is the highest level of certification allowed for software-only products.

Details of the certifications can be found here:

• Crypto Next Generation (CNG)/bcrypt.dll: FIPS certification #1989
• CryptoAPI/rsaenh.dll: FIPS certification #825

FIPS 140-2 certification assures U.S. and Canadian government customers that the certified modules provide Level 1 protection for sensitive information, and comply with government security regulations. In order to receive FIPS validation, cryptographic modules go through comprehensive testing by government accredited, independent and test agencies. Reference: NIST

Windows Embedded Compact is Microsoft’s platform for small-footprint devices that need hard, real-time performance and silicon flexibility. With this new capability to run FIPS certified applications on the device, it will be interesting to see the types of intelligent systems that are created for these organizations over the coming months (or maybe we won’t get to see them! ).

Read more about Windows Embedded Compact 7 on our website.