Many standards, especially those provided by the government, are often viewed as more trouble the actual help. The goal of this talk is to shed a new light onto onesuch standard (FIPS 140) and show what it is inteded for and how is can sometimes help ensure good design practices for security products. But everything is not roses and there are certain things that these standards cannot help with or may even inhibit. By examining these strengths and potential weakness, the hope is everyone will have a new opinion of this and similar standards and how they are used.