What type of encryption does the SMP support?

Products

• IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

Question:

Is Altiris encryption capable of using the secure SHA algorithm 256?

Environment

SMP 7.x, 8.x

Resolution

We are using SHA-256 in newer code, for hashing the internal credential passwords.  Older features, such as hierarchy and policy cache, use older algorithms like SHA-1 and MD5.  All of this is predicated on the Customers OS, as we can only support certificates for SSL that use a SHA-256 hash on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. This is a Windows limitation, not an NS limitation.

We are also in the process of FIPS 140-2 validation. The SMP and SMP Agent Cryptographic Modules are officially listed on the FIPS 140 In-Process list: https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/modules-in-process

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