Bitwarden, the trusted leader in passkey, password, and secrets management, today announced that the Bitwarden Cryptographic Module has earned Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-3 validation through the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP). The achievement advances broader Bitwarden efforts to serve government agencies, contractors, partners, and regulated organizations with demanding security and compliance requirements.

Advancing government readiness

The validation follows the recent Bitwarden announcement of plans to pursue FedRAMP Class D (High) Certification and adds a completed security milestone to broader Bitwarden government readiness efforts.

According to NIST, federal agencies must use validated cryptographic modules when cryptographic protection is required, making FIPS validation an important threshold for federal technology procurement and deployments. The active validation, certificate #5507, supports the planned Bitwarden Government Cloud environment as Bitwarden pursues FedRAMP Class D Certification. The achievement gives customers and partners a clearer path to evaluate Bitwarden solutions for deployments that require FIPS-validated cryptography.

Other public sector and regulated organizations may also include FIPS requirements in their security, compliance, or procurement criteria. The validation strengthens Bitwarden support for these organizations and government contractors serving federal customers.

What FIPS 140-3 validation means

FIPS 140-3 is a U.S. federal standard for cryptographic modules used to protect sensitive information. It is based on ISO/IEC 19790:2012, an international standard that establishes security requirements for cryptographic modules. The validation applies specifically to the Bitwarden Cryptographic Module, the software component that provides encryption and related security operations.

Bitwarden Government Cloud will be the first environment to use the validated module, with FIPS mode enabled by default for server-side cryptographic operations used by Bitwarden Password Manager and Bitwarden Secrets Manager. The module will support the protection of passwords, authentication information, credentials, secrets, and other sensitive information.

About Bitwarden:

Bitwarden equips enterprises and individuals with the power to securely manage and share information online with trusted open source security solutions. With a password manager for everyone, users can easily manage their entire online identity anywhere. Bitwarden Secrets Manager and Passwordless.dev enhance developer secrets security and streamline passkey development for end users and workforce authentication. Founded in 2016, Bitwarden serves over 80,000 businesses and more than 15 million users worldwide across 180 countries in 50+ languages. The company is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California. Learn more at bitwarden.com.

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