FIPS 140-3

Citation
NIST, DRAFT Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules (Revised Draft) (FIPS 140-3) (Dec. 11, 2009) (full-text).

Overview
The Revised Draft FIPS 140-3 is the second public draft of NIST's proposed revision of FIPS 140-2. The Revised Draft was developed using the comments received on the first public draft, which was posted for public review and comment on July 13, 2007, and the FIPS 140-3 Software Security Workshop held on March 18, 2008. While the 2007 Draft proposed 5 levels of security, the Revised Draft FIPS 140-3 reverts to 4 levels of security as currently specified in FIPS 140-2.

In contrast to the 2007 Draft, the Revised Draft also reintroduces the notion of firmware cryptographic module and defines the security requirements for it, limits the overall security level for software cryptographic modules to Security Level 2, and removes the formal model requirement at Security Level 4.

Differences with the current FIPS 140-2 standard include limiting the overall security level for software cryptographic modules to Security Level 2, requirements for mitigation of non-invasive attacks at higher security levels, elimination of the requirement for formal modeling at Security Level 4, modified conditions for pre-operational/power-on self-tests, and strengthened integrity testing.