Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Guideline for Using Cryptographic Standards in the Federal Government: Directives, Mandates and Policies

Published

Author(s)

Elaine B. Barker, William C. Barker

Abstract

This document is part of a series intended to provide guidance to the Federal Government for using cryptography and NIST's cryptographic standards to protect sensitive, but unclassified digitized information during transmission and while in storage. Special Publication (SP) 800-175A provides guidance on the determination of requirements for using cryptography. It includes a summary of laws and regulations concerning the protection of the Federal Government's sensitive information, guidance regarding the conduct of risk assessments to determine what needs to be protected and how best to protect that information, and a discussion of the relevant security-related documents (e.g., various policy and practice documents). [Supersedes SP 800-21 2nd edition (December 2005): https://www.nist.gov/node/562661]
Citation
Special Publication (NIST SP) - 800-175A
Report Number
800-175A

Keywords

authentication, confidentiality, critical infrastructure, cryptographic guideline, cryptography, Executive Orders, integrity, key management, laws, mandates, policy, Presidential Directives, risk assessment, standards.

Citation

Barker, E. and Barker, W. (2016), Guideline for Using Cryptographic Standards in the Federal Government: Directives, Mandates and Policies, Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-175A (Accessed December 30, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created August 22, 2016, Updated November 10, 2018