main components that support the base cryptographic capabilities. These are known as the 'light-weight' API, and the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) provider. Further components built upon the JCE provider support additional functionality, such as PGP support, S/MIME, etc. The low-level, or 'light-weight', API is a set of APIs that implement all the underlying cryptographic algorithms. The APIs were designed to be simple enough to use if needed, but provided the basic building blocks for the JCE provider. The intent is to use the low-level API in memory constrained devices (JavaME) or when easy access to the JCE libraries is not possible (such as distribution in an applet). As the light-weight API is just Java code, the Java virtual machine (JVM) does not impose any restrictions on the operation of the code, and at early times of the Bouncy Castle history it was the only way to develop strong cryptography that was not crippled by the Jurisdiction Policy files that prevented JCE providers from performing "strong" encryption. The JCE-compatible provider is built upon the low-level APIs. As such, the source code for the JCE provider is an example of how to implement many of the "common" crypto problems using the low-level API. Many projects have been built using the JCE provider, including an Open Source Certificate Authority EJBCA. Certified releases The C# and Java releases have FIPS 140-2 Level 1 certified streams as well. These differ from the regular releases in that, while the modules are designed in a similar fashion to the regular releases, the low-level APIs are quite different – largely to support the enforcement of controls that FIPS requires when an algorithm is used. In the case of the JCE level of the Java API, the provider is still largely a drop-in replacement for the regular release. The first FIPS-certified releases were made available in November 2016, with the latest Java version being assigned certification number 3514 and the latest C# version being assigned certification number 4416. Spongy Castle The Android operating system, as of early 2014, includes a customized version of Bouncy Castle. Due to class name conflicts, this prevents Android applications from including and using the official release of Bouncy Castle as-is. A third-party project called Spongy Castle distributes a renamed version of the library to work around this issue. Stripy Castle Originally, it was assumed a FIPS 140-2 version of Spongy Castle could also be