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by ongy 82 days ago
Crypto wise, fips is outdated but not horrible.

Actual fips compliant (certified) gives you confidence in some basic competence of the solution.

Just fips compatible (i.e. picking algos that could be fips compliant) is generally neutral to negative.

I'm not 100% up to date, so that might have changed, but AEAD used to be easier if you don't follow fips than fips compatible. Still possible, but more foot guns due to regulatory lag in techniques.

Overall, IMO the other top-level comment of "only fips if you have pencil pusher benefit" applies.

1 comments

FIPS-140 allowed encryption using 3DES up until Jan 1 2024, and allowed certification of modules containing SHA-1 through the end of 2025. There is some transition-timeline nuance involved, but those examples are in general pretty horrible from a security perspective.