How to Use This Cybersecurity Resource

Encryption Authority functions as a structured reference directory covering the encryption and cryptography service sector across the United States. This page describes how the resource is organized, which professional and institutional audiences it serves, and how to locate relevant technical, regulatory, and vendor-category content efficiently. The scope spans both foundational cryptographic concepts and the compliance frameworks that govern their deployment — from FIPS 140 validation to post-quantum transition planning.

Purpose of this resource

Encryption Authority is a public-facing reference directory, not a vendor platform or academic journal. Its function is to map the encryption and cryptography service landscape — including the categories of providers, the standards bodies and regulatory agencies that govern them, and the technical frameworks professionals must navigate when procuring or auditing cryptographic services.

The resource operates at the intersection of three distinct reference needs: technical classification (algorithm types, protocol families, key management architectures), regulatory compliance mapping (NIST, HIPAA, PCI DSS, FTC, and export control frameworks administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security), and service-sector orientation (distinguishing, for example, hardware security module vendors from certificate authority operators or managed PKI providers).

Pages within this directory are structured to serve lookup and comparison functions. A page such as Tokenization vs. Encryption does not advocate for one approach; it delineates the structural differences, applicable regulatory contexts, and deployment scenarios where each is used — giving procurement teams, auditors, and legal reviewers the reference points they need without editorializing.

Named standards bodies referenced throughout include the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). Regulatory instruments cited include 45 CFR Part 164 (HIPAA Security Rule), PCI DSS v4.0, and FIPS Publication 140-3.

Intended users

This directory is designed for professionals and institutional researchers operating in defined functional roles:

1. Security architects and engineers evaluating cryptographic primitives, protocol selections, or key management systems for enterprise deployments.
2. Compliance officers and auditors mapping organizational controls to named regulatory requirements — including those under HIPAA, PCI DSS, FedRAMP, and SOC 2.
3. Procurement and vendor management teams identifying qualified service providers by category — certificate authorities, HSM vendors, managed encryption services — and understanding the qualification standards applicable to each.
4. Legal and policy researchers examining US export controls on cryptographic products (administered under the Export Administration Regulations, 15 CFR Part 742) or state-level data protection statutes that reference encryption as a safe harbor.
5. IT risk managers assessing exposure to emerging threats, including quantum computing risks catalogued under NIST's Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization project.

This resource does not serve general consumer education as a primary function. Pages assume baseline familiarity with information security concepts. A reader seeking foundational orientation may begin with Encryption Types and Algorithms before moving into compliance-specific or service-category content.

How to navigate

The directory is organized into five functional clusters, each covering a discrete segment of the encryption and cryptography landscape:

1. Foundational cryptographic concepts — covering algorithm families (symmetric, asymmetric, hashing), protocol layers (TLS/SSL, DNS encryption), and mathematical underpinnings such as elliptic curve cryptography.
2. Infrastructure and key management — covering public key infrastructure, certificate authorities, hardware security modules, cryptographic key lifecycle, and bring-your-own-key architectures.
3. Compliance and regulatory frameworks — covering NIST guidelines, FIPS standards, HIPAA and PCI DSS encryption requirements, and US export controls.
4. Applied encryption contexts — covering cloud environments, mobile devices, IoT, backup and recovery, database encryption, and email encryption standards.
5. Threat and vulnerability reference — covering algorithm vulnerabilities, side-channel attacks, ransomware abuse of encryption, and quantum threats.

Navigation between clusters follows a lateral reference model. Pages within a cluster cross-link to adjacent technical or regulatory content rather than following a linear course structure. A reader on the Public Key Infrastructure page will find direct references to Certificate Authorities in the US, Digital Certificates, and FIPS 140 standards — each a discrete lookup destination.

The Cybersecurity Listings section catalogs service providers by category, with classification boundaries drawn by service type and applicable qualification standard.

What to look for first

Entry point selection depends on the reader's immediate functional need:

Regulatory compliance lookup — Start with Encryption Compliance: US Regulations for a cross-framework overview, then navigate to the specific instrument (HIPAA, PCI DSS, FIPS 140) most relevant to the organizational context.

Algorithm or protocol selection — Start with Encryption Types and Algorithms for classification boundaries, then move to specific pages covering AES, RSA, or elliptic curve implementations based on the use case.

Vendor category research — The Cybersecurity Listings directory organizes providers by service type. Categories include certificate authorities, HSM vendors, PKI-as-a-service providers, and managed key management services. Each listing category includes the relevant qualification frameworks — such as FIPS 140-3 validation for cryptographic modules — that differentiate providers operating within regulated environments.

Emerging threat or technology assessment — Pages covering post-quantum cryptography, homomorphic encryption, and zero-knowledge proofs provide technical framing for evaluating technologies that are moving from research into production deployment contexts.

Terminology resolution — The Glossary of Encryption Terms provides standardized definitions sourced from NIST, IETF RFCs, and CNSS Instruction No. 4009, and serves as a normative reference point when terminology conflicts arise between documents from different standards bodies.

The directory purpose and scope page provides additional context on the resource's structural design and the criteria used to classify content across these functional clusters.