The National Institute of Standards and Technology releases Status Report on the Third Round of the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization Process

July 6, 2022 |

Publications by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) is regarded by many privacy and cyber security practitioners as setting out technical and process standards.  That is not a universal view but given its output it is a matter of time before that becomes a reality.

The NIST has released its Status Report on the Third Round of the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization Process

The first group of algorithms NIST has chosen are designed to withstand the possible assault of a future quantum computer. Quantum computers are likely to become powerful enough to break present-day encryption.  That poses a serious threat to information systems.  The four selected encryption algorithms will become part of NIST’s post-quantum cryptographic standard. Those selected algorithms are either alogorithms for:

  • general encryption, used to access secure websites; or
  • digital signatures, used to verify identities during a digital transaction or remote signing.

The Abstract provides:

The report refers to work done by the NIST in Post-Quantum Cryptography and PQC Standardization Process

The Report notes that there has been intensified research into finding public-key cryptosystems that would be secure against adversaries with both quantum and classical computers. This is post-quantum cryptography (PQC), or quantum-resistant cryptography. The goal is to develop schemes that can be deployed in existing communication networks and protocols without significant modifications.

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