National Institute of Standards and Technology Re-certifies the charismathics CSSI PIV Middleware as FIPS 201 Compliant

charismathics CSSI PIV Middleware has recently won certification from National Institute of Standards and Technology as FIPS 201 compliant according to NIST SP 800-73-3.

CSSI PIV was certified as FIPS 201 compliant back in 2009, and this time it is the first independent software vendor compliant to the updated NIST specification. The FIPS 201 Approved Products List (APL) is dynamic and only lists those products and services that are in compliance with the current version of the Standard and its supporting publications.

According to charismathics officials, CSSI PIV supports PIV cards from all major PIV card vendors, including ActivIdentity, Oberthur, Gemalto (News - Alert), and Athena. Unlike the middleware packages from these vendors, charismathics CSSI PIV has been specifically designed for interoperability and performance with all cards. It also supports SIPRnet cards and tokens.

With charismathics CSSI PIV, PIV cards can be used for logical access applications such as remote access, computer logon, digital certificate signing and encryption.

This versatile solution offers software across all major computer and mobile platforms, including Mac OS X, Linux and Android (News - Alert) and this feature allows the use of the software with all authorized computing platforms in the US government, regardless of the type of card the user carries. With the new Key Storage Provider (KSP), it even offers a user friendly and flexible alternative to the mini driver concept of Microsoft (News - Alert).

“We are pleased to announce that charismathics is one of only two vendors having achieved compliance with the 800-73-3 specification,” commented Sven Gossel, CEO of charismathics inc. “Since two years, U.S. Government agencies have been demanding a compliant upgrade alternative for their PIV middleware, but no software had been certified until mid-2012. Now the time has come. With charismathics. The only independent software vendor in the US government market offers the world´s best PKI middleware.”

“charismathics CSSI PIV middleware not only supports the interoperability of PIV cards at the middleware level, but also PIV cards at the application level. "For the delivery of the current PIV framework contracts to the U.S. government, supporting the PIV platform has been strategic for our company," he adds.