The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 140-2 is a U.S. government computer security standard used to accredit cryptographic modules. The title is Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued the FIPS 140 Publication Series to coordinate the requirements and standards for cryptography modules that include both hardware and software components. The cryptographic modules are produced by the private sector or open source communities for use by the U.S. government and other regulated industries (such as financial and healthcare institutions) that collect, store, transfer, share and disseminate "sensitive, but not classified" information. Federal agencies and departments can validate that the module in use is covered by an existing FIPS certificate, which specifies the exact module name, hardware, software, firmware, and / or applet version numbers.