The Second Day of the International Cryptographic Module Conference

The second day of the conference started with the keynotes and a buzzing auditorium.
Charles H. Romine, Director of NIST's Information Technology Laboratory was the first to speak and gave an overview of the work that NIST is doing in regards to cryptographic modules. He addressed some of the challenges that the FIPS 140-2 program faces and called on the technical community to develop a mechanism for structured input of ideas and improvements.

Bertrand Du Castel, Schlumberger Fellow and Java Card Pioneer, offered a very entertaining look into the history of smart cards and the differences between Europe and the U.S.

His speech was followed by the presentation "CAVP/CMVP Status - what's next". Sharon Keller (NIST), Carolyn French (CSEC) and Randall Easter (NIST) gave short introductions of their respective organizations and programs and an outlook on the coming developments.

A similar presentation followed later in the day when Junichi Kondo (Director of the JCMVP), Yongdae Kim (Researcher with ETRI) and Helmut Kurth (atsec Chief Scientist) brought the audience up to speed on the current state of validation programs in Japan, Korea and Germany.

The panel discussion on how to improve the validation queue for the CMVP saw a packed room and a lively discussion. Nithya Rachamadugu (Cygnacom), Steve Weymann (Infogard), James McLaughlin (Gemalto) and Michael Cooper (NIST) talked about the challenges for all parties involved - from federal hiring practices to the delays in bringing a product to the market - and possible ways to fix it.

The day ended with a well-deserved wine-and-cheese social and will continue with a packed agenda on Thursday.