After the overwhelming success of last year’s bootcamp, on March 25th, 2025, atsec will host another Crypto Module Bootcamp in collaboration with UT Austin on their campus, and it will be free to attend.
The University of Texas at Austin stands as a world-renowned institution, with its mathematics program ranked fifth worldwide and its computer science and engineering programs securing the eighth position globally. This excellence underscores UT Austin’s commitment to advancing knowledge and innovative research in frontier fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cryptography, and cybersecurity. atsec information security is a global leader in the world of standard-based security testing and assessment, connecting cybersecurity and cryptography experts from academia, the industry, and government, as demonstrated by the founding of the International Cryptographic Module Conference in 2013 and hosting the Cryptographic Module User Forum. atsec also operates world-class cybersecurity testing laboratories in multiple countries to meet customer demand for national and international evaluation market requirements.
The title of this year’s bootcamp drives the rich and intense one-day program: We will discuss FIPS (the Federal Information Processing Standard 140-3) and Chips – not potato chips, but silicon ones! The event will feature distinguished speakers and panelists from NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), NIAP (National Information Assurance Partnership), academia, and industry.
NIST plays a critical role in advancing technology, setting globally recognized standards, and fostering innovation in cryptography and cybersecurity. The FIPS standards it developed are foundational to ensuring the security and interoperability of federal IT systems and are widely adopted across industries worldwide. NIAP, operating under the guidance of the National Security Agency (NSA), is essential for maintaining rigorous security standards through its oversight of the Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme (CCEVS). This ensures that commercial IT products meet the stringent requirements needed to protect national security systems. The insights from these prominent organizations will provide invaluable perspectives on the evolving landscape of cryptographic standards and cybersecurity assurance.
The standard-based compliance programs like NIST’s CAVP, ESV, and CMVP, and NIAP’s CCEVS provide security assurance for crypto modules and security products, which are the core of our modern IT ecosystem. Making these compliance programs as effective as possible eases the burden of other cybersecurity professionals who focus on attack prevention, detection, forensics, and recovery.
Our bootcamp represents a unique opportunity for students to discover that security standards are applicable methodologies that can tremendously advance industry and society, as well as their careers. Bringing together professionals and academics on campus will provide an opportunity to connect the present generation of crypto and cybersecurity experts with the future generation.
You can find more information about the schedule and our speakers on the event website at https://www.atsec.com/fips-n-chips/. You can expect conversations about the newly released version of the FIPS 140-3 base ISO/IEC 19790 (see our blog article), post quantum algorithms, and more.
