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containedonthefloppydiskviathemodule’smanagementinterface.The
formatutilitythencausesthefirmwareofthemoduletobeerased
• RSAkeys:TheseRSApublic/privatekey-pairsareusedforgeneratingand
verifyingdigitalsignaturesforauthenticationofusersduringIPSectunneling
sessions.Themodule’skeysaregeneratedinternallybythePKCS#1standard
usingapseudo-randomnumbergenerator.Thekeysarestoredinuniquely
nameddirectoriesinPKCS#5andPKCS#8formats,respectively.AllRSA
keyscanbezeroizedbytheadministratorbyenteringcommandstodeleteand
zeroizethekeydirectories.Theprivatekeyisneveroutputfromthemodule
whilethemodule’spublickeyisoutputtoobtainacertificatefromathird
partyCertificateAuthority(CA).
• RSACertificates:Thesepublickeybasedcertificatesareusedtoauthenticate
usersforIPSectunnelsessions.Inaddition,themodulehasitsowncertificate
thatitusestoauthenticatetousers.TheseX.509certificatesareissuedbya
thirdpartyCAandstoredintheinternalLDAP.
2.6 Self-tests
Itisimportanttotestthecryptographiccomponentsofasecuritymoduletoinsureall
componentsarefunctioningcorrectly.TheContivitySwitchincludesanarrayofself-tests
thatarerunduringstartupandperiodicallyduringoperations.Theself-testsrunat
power-upincludeacryptographicknownanswertests(KAT)ontheFIPS-approved
cryptographicalgorithmsimplementedinbothHardwareandSoftware(DES,3DES),on
themessagedigest(SHA-1),andonsignatures(RSAwithSHA-1).Additionalself-tests
performedatstartupincludesoftwareintegritytestsusingaDESMACperFIPS113and
acontinuousrandomnumbergeneratortest.Othertestsarerunperiodicallyor
conditionallysuchasasoftwareloadtestforFIPS-approvedupgradesusingaDESMAC
andthecontinuousrandomnumbergeneratortest.Inaddition,therearechecksumtests
ontheflashmemorythatareupdatedwithflashchanges.
Ifanyoftheseself-testfailtheswitchwilltransitionintoanerrorstate.Withintheerror
state,allsecuredatatransmissionishaltedandtheswitchoutputsstatusinformation
indicatingthefailure.