A cryptographic coprocessor from IBM has become the first product to achieve the US government’s highest level of certification for commercial security, the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-1 Level 4. The IBM 4758 PCI Cryptographic Coprocessor provides a tamper-sensing and tamper-responding environment for sensitive applications. The company claims that whenever the programmable PCI card senses penetration, radiation, voltage or excessive cold or heat, the coprocessor is zeroized and sensitive information is erased. Ordinarily it works by offloading computationally-intensive cryptographic processes from the hosting server. FIPS certification is recognized by both the US National Insatiate of Standards and Technology (NIST) and by the Canadian Communications Security Establishment (CSE).
