In brief: Intel and Bouncy Castle have teamed up to deliver up to 28x faster encryption with hardware-accelerated AES and SHA-256. The result: lower CPU load, stronger security, and FIPS 140-3 compliance in progress – giving you high-performance cryptography that scales with your business.
In today’s fast-moving digital world, security must keep pace with performance demands. Cryptographic operations are the backbone of secure communications, software integrity, and trusted identities – yet they can often become bottlenecks that slow down modern applications.
That’s why Bouncy Castle, in collaboration with Intel, has introduced hardware acceleration for AES (including GCM) and SHA-256, delivering massive performance improvements.
By leveraging Intel’s AES-NI and SHA-256 instructions, this latest update achieves throughput gains for AES encryption ranging from 4x to 28x in bulk encryption. On top of that, BC-FJA 2.1.0 has now qualified for NIST’s Interim Certificate program, achieving an interim FIPS 140-3 certification (#4943) while still in process, reinforcing its security and compliance for businesses worldwide.
This collaboration is a testament to the power of TECHSynergy – when engineering excellence, openness, and shared expertise come together to drive security innovation.
The Business Case for High-Performance Cryptography
Many industries today rely on cryptography for data protection, authentication, and compliance. However, traditional software-based cryptography can introduce performance trade-offs.
As security requirements grow, businesses face challenges such as:
- Increased latency in secure communications (TLS, VPNs, IoT encryption)
- High CPU overhead when processing large-scale cryptographic workloads
- Power efficiency concerns in cloud computing and resource-constrained devices
With Intel’s hardware acceleration integrated into Bouncy Castle, businesses gain tangible benefits:
- 4x-28x faster AES encryption speeds, enabling real-time encryption for high-throughput applications
- Reduce CPU utilization, freeing up resources for other workloads
For industries like financial services, IoT, and big-scale SaaS deployment, this means more efficient scalability, stronger security, and reduced operational costs—without sacrificing compliance.
The Combined Strengths of Intel & Bouncy Castle’s Technologies
💡 Intel’s Contribution: AES-NI & SHA-256 Acceleration
Intel’s AES-NI (Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions) and SHA-256 instructions significantly speed up cryptographic operations by offloading intensive calculations to dedicated hardware. This results in:
- Faster encryption & decryption, reducing transaction processing time
- Stronger resistance to side-channel attacks, enhancing security
- Optimized performance for large-scale applications, such as cloud security and data storage
💡 Bouncy Castle’s Contribution: Trusted, Future-Proof, Open-Source Cryptography
Bouncy Castle has been a trusted name in cryptographic libraries, offering:
- A robust, open-source cryptographic API for developers
- Extensive support for modern security protocols and algorithms, including NIST standard post-quantum algorithms
- Flexibility for integration into diverse security architectures
Truly Unique: The Power of Combining Intel & Bouncy Castle
By integrating Intel’s hardware acceleration with Bouncy Castle’s flexible cryptographic stack, we achieve something truly unique:
- A high-performance, software-based cryptographic library with near-hardware-level speeds
- An open-source solution that can be freely audited and trusted
- A scalable cryptographic approach that meets enterprise security needs
Engineering Synergy: How Collaboration Drove Innovation
This breakthrough didn’t happen in isolation. This breakthrough came from open collaboration between Intel and Bouncy Castle – proof that TECHSynergy turns collective expertise into transformative results.
Here are a few factors that made this partnership successful:
- Knowledge-sharing between Intel’s hardware experts and Bouncy Castle’s software and cryptographic specialists
- Joint testing and optimization to ensure seamless integration
- Commitment to transparency and open standards, ensuring a solution that benefits the broader security community
“At Intel, we are committed to pushing the boundaries of performance and security in the digital landscape. Our collaboration with Keyfactor, which delivers higher performance with the Bouncy Castle library, demonstrates how fully utilizing the crypto acceleration capabilities of Intel platforms can deliver stronger security without compromise. We look forward to helping our customers experience the transformative impact it will have on security and efficiency.”
— Ronak Singhal, Intel Senior Fellow
FIPS 140-3 Certification: A Quality Stamp for the Future
A major milestone in this journey was achieving FIPS 140-3 certification (#4943) under NIST’s Interim Certificate program. But what does this mean for businesses?
- Regulatory compliance: FIPS 140-3 is a requirement for government and enterprise security applications worldwide.
- Guaranteed security assurance: Certified cryptographic modules meet strict testing and validation standards.
- Future-proofing cryptographic investments: Organizations can trust that they are using validated, industry-approved cryptographic implementations.
With BC-FJA 2.1.0 now in the process of being FIPS 140-3 certified, businesses using Bouncy Castle and Intel-powered cryptographic solutions can confidently meet security, performance, and compliance demands.
Looking Ahead: What This Means for the Industry
The collaboration between Intel and Bouncy Castle marks a significant leap forward in cryptographic performance. By combining hardware acceleration with open-source cryptographic innovation, we are paving the way for a faster, more secure future.
For businesses and developers, this means:
- Improved performance at scale without compromising security
- Lower infrastructure costs
- Stronger compliance & assurance with FIPS-certified solutions
- A commitment to open, trusted, and high-performance cryptographic technologies
Want to see these improvements in action? Try it out today and experience the next generation of cryptographic performance!
Releases that make use of the hardware accelerated algorithms:
LTS – BC-LJA 2.73.7 https://www.bouncycastle.org/download/bouncy-castle-java-lts/#download
FIPS – BC-FJA 2.1.0: https://www.bouncycastle.org/download/bouncy-castle-java-fips/#latest
