Glossary
FIPS 140-3
The U.S. and Canadian standard for validating cryptographic modules, run by the NIST CMVP, with four security levels from software-only to high physical assurance.
FIPS 140-3 is the current version of the Federal Information Processing Standard for cryptographic modules, aligned with ISO/IEC 19790 and administered by the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (NIST and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security). It superseded FIPS 140-2 for new validations.
It defines four levels: Level 1 (correct approved cryptography), Level 2 (tamper evidence, role-based authentication), Level 3 (tamper response, identity-based authentication) and Level 4 (environmental attack protection). A validation certificate applies to a specific module, hardware and firmware version, and configuration described in its security policy, so "FIPS compliant" marketing is not the same as a validated module.