IANA
/aɪ-ˈæn-ə/
n. “The quiet custodian of the Internet’s master keys.”
IANA, short for Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, is the organization responsible for coordinating some of the most fundamental pieces of the Internet’s infrastructure. It does not route traffic, host websites, or spy on packets. Instead, it manages the shared registries that allow the global network to function as a single, interoperable system rather than a collection of incompatible islands.
W3C
/ˌdʌbəl.juː ˈθriː ˈsiː/
n. “Decide how the web should behave… then argue about it for years.”
W3C, short for World Wide Web Consortium, is the primary standards body responsible for defining how the modern web is supposed to work — not in theory, but in practice, across browsers, devices, and decades of accumulated technical debt. Founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web itself, the W3C exists to prevent the web from fragmenting into incompatible dialects controlled by whoever shouts the loudest.
FIPS
/ˈfɪps/
n. “Standards that make cryptography a bit less mysterious.”
FIPS, or Federal Information Processing Standards, are publicly announced standards developed by the United States federal government to ensure that computer systems, networks, and cryptographic modules operate securely and consistently. Managed primarily by NIST, these standards define the technical specifications for data security, encryption, hashing, and other critical processes that safeguard sensitive information.
Cryptographic Module Validation Program
/ˌsiː-ɛm-viː-ˈpiː/
n. “Certified to guard, officially.”
NIST
/nɪst/
n. “The rulebook authors for the digital age.”
NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is a United States federal agency that quietly but fundamentally shapes the rules and frameworks of modern computing, cryptography, and measurement standards. Founded in 1901 as the National Bureau of Standards, it has grown into the authority that provides the guidelines, benchmarks, and reference materials upon which engineers, developers, and security professionals rely worldwide.