A Type 1 product was a device or system certified by NSA for use in cryptographically securing classified U.S. Government information.
Used to protect systems requiring the most stringent protection mechanisms.They were available to U.S. Government users, their contractors, and federally sponsored non-U.S. Government activities subject to export restrictions in accordance with International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
[3] A Type 2 product was unclassified cryptographic equipment, assemblies, or components, endorsed by the NSA, for use in telecommunications and automated information systems for the protection of national security information, as defined as: Cryptographic equipment, assembly, or component certified by NSA for encrypting or decrypting sensitive national security information when appropriately keyed.
Developed using established commercial standards and containing NIST approved cryptographic algorithms/modules or successfully evaluated by the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP).Approved encryption algorithms included three-key Triple DES, and AES (although AES can also be used in NSA-certified Type 1 products[citation needed]).
[4] A Type 4 product was an encryption algorithm that was registered with NIST but is not a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), defined as: Unevaluated commercial cryptographic equipment, assemblies, or components that neither NSA nor NIST certify for any Government usage.