Emerging Advanced Cryptography: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract. The exploration of advanced cryptography is replete with opportunities and challenges. Beyond quantum-resistant solutions for regular signing and encryption, to which the world is already migrating, there is a plethora of emerging techniques in multi-party settings and for privacy-enhancing purposes. Ensuring their dependability requires new processes for standardization, validation, and certification. The migration to "post-quantum" also motivates further research on the quantum gap in advanced cryptography: In which circumstances would a dismissal of quantum-vulnerable crypto lead to worsened security or privacy? This talk will briefly review the goals of the multi-party threshold cryptography and the privacy-enhancing cryptography projects at NIST. In particular, the NIST Threshold Call aims to gather reference materials to guide future recommendations and processes. This exploratory approach will help tackle a vast space of solutions.