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Announcing Request for Nominations for Public-Key Post-Quantum Cryptographic Algorithms
December 20, 2016

NIST has initiated a process to develop and standardize one or more additional public-key cryptographic algorithms to augment FIPS 186-4, Digital Signature Standard (DSS), as well as special publications SP 800-56A Revision 2, Recommendation for Pair-Wise Key Establishment Schemes Using Discrete Logarithm Cryptography, and SP 800-56B, Recommendation for Pair-Wise Key-Establishment Schemes Using Integer Factorization Cryptography.

It is intended that the new public-key cryptography standards will specify one or more additional unclassified, publicly disclosed digital signature, public-key encryption, and key-establishment algorithms that are capable of protecting sensitive government information well into the foreseeable future, including after the advent of quantum computers.

As a first step in this process, NIST solicited public comment on draft minimum acceptability requirements, submission requirements, and evaluation criteria for candidate algorithms. The comments received are posted at https://www.nist.gov/pqcrypto, along with a summary of the changes made as a result of these comments.The purpose of this notice is to announce that nominations for post-quantum candidate algorithms may now be submitted, up until the final deadline of November 30, 2017.

Complete instructions on how to submit a candidate package, including the minimal acceptability requirements, are posted at https://www.nist.gov/pqcrypto. The finalized evaluation criteria which will be used to assess the submissions are also posted at the same website.

Also see the NIST Press Release, NIST Asks Public to Help Future-Proof Electronic Information (12/20/2016).

Federal Register Notice

Document Number: 2016-30615
Created December 19, 2016, Updated June 22, 2020