[ Thanks to lh8
for this link. ]
“The on-again, off-again status of OpenSSL Certificate 642’s
validation by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) seems to be coming to a conclusion as abruptly as it
began.“OpenSSL is an open source toolkit that allows programs to
securely exchange data in the same fashion as proprietary versions
of Secure Sockets Layer encryption. The NIST’s Computer Module
Validation Program for FIPS-140-2 is used to validate and certify
cryptographic programs that government agencies use to protect
sensitive information. Earlier this year, OpenSSL was one of the
first products to be validated by the NIST after formal testing in
one of its 13 accredited labs. But OpenSSL developers were stunned
last month to learn that the product’s validation had suddenly been
suspended without explanation…”