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Projects

Showing 1 through 25 of 30 matching records.
Automated Cryptographic Validation Testing ACVT
The Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program (CAVP) and the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) were established on July 17, 1995 by NIST to validate cryptographic modules conforming to the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-1, Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules, and other FIPS cryptography based standards. FIPS 140-2 was released on May 25, 2001 and supersedes FIPS 140-1. The current implementation of the CMVP is shown in Figure 1 below. The CAVP is a...
Automotive Cybersecurity Community of Interest (COI)
The automotive industry is facing significant challenges from increased cybersecurity risk and adoption of AI and opportunities from rapid technological innovations. NIST is setting up this community of interest (COI) to allow the industry, academia, and government to discuss, comment, and provide input on the potential work that NIST is doing which will affect the automotive industry. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: Cryptography Cryptographic agility Migration to...
Block Cipher Techniques
Approved Algorithms Currently, there are two (2) Approved* block cipher algorithms that can be used for both applying cryptographic protection (e.g., encryption) and removing or verifying the protection that was previously applied (e.g., decryption): AES and Triple DES. Two (2) other block cipher algorithms were previously approved: DES and Skipjack; however, their approval has been withdrawn. See the discussions below for further information; also see SP 800-131A Rev. 1, Transitions:...
Circuit Complexity
The circuit complexity project, part of the Cryptographic Technology Group, operates within the Computer Security Division, in the Information Technology Laboratory at NIST. The project is focused on researching circuit complexity, and developing reference material about circuits. Motivation and goals Circuit complexity is a topic of great relevance to cryptography. Optimization of circuits leads to efficiency improvement in a wide range of algorithms and protocols, such...
Computer Security Objects Register CSOR
Information objects that convey information used to maintain the security of resources in computerized environments are known as Computer Security Objects (CSOs). The Computer Security Objects Register (CSOR) specifies names that uniquely identify CSOs. These unique names are used to reference these objects in abstract specifications and during the negotiation of security services for a transaction or application. The CSOR is also a repository of parameters associated with the registered...
Crypto Publication Review Project
This project summarizes NIST’s current and planned activities for reviewing its cryptography standards and other publications. The Crypto Publication Review Board (“the Board”) within the Computer Security Division identifies a publication for review based on its original publishing date and any relevant issues raised since it was published. The targeted review period for each publication is every five years. The Board welcomes public comments on the publications under review and will consider...
Crypto Reading Club
The Crypto Reading Club at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts diversified talks to foster cryptography research, collaboration, and dissemination. The meetings are organized by the NIST Cryptographic Technology Group (CTG), within the Computer Security Division (CSD), Information Technology Laboratory (ITL). When, Where, Contact Feature Description When Wednesday, once every two weeks, 10:00am-11:00am (Eastern Time). Some...
Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program CAVP
The NIST Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program (CAVP) provides validation testing of Approved (i.e., FIPS-approved and NIST-recommended) cryptographic algorithms and their individual components. Cryptographic algorithm validation is a prerequisite of cryptographic module validation. The list of FIPS-approved algorithms can be found in SP 800-140C and SP 800-140D.  Vendors may use any of the NVLAP-accredited Cryptographic and Security Testing (CST) Laboratories to test algorithm...
Cryptographic Module Validation Program CMVP
Welcome to the CMVP The Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) is a joint effort between the National Institute of Standards and Technology under the Department of Commerce and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, a branch of the Communications Security Establishment. The goal of the CMVP is to promote the use of validated cryptographic modules and provide Federal agencies with a security metric to use in procuring equipment containing validated cryptographic modules. CMVP has over...
Cryptographic Standards and Guidelines Development Process
In 2021, the Computer Security Division launched the Crypto Publication Review Project to identify publications for review based on their original publishing date and any relevant issues raised since then. Please visit the project page to view current publications under review and completed reviews. Background In 2013, news reports about leaked classified documents caused concern from the cryptographic community about the security of NIST cryptographic standards and guidelines. NIST is also...
Digital Signatures
As an electronic analogue of a written signature, a digital signature provides assurance that: the claimed signatory signed the information, and  the information was not modified after signature generation. Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 186-4, Digital Signature Standard (DSS), specifies three NIST-approved digital signature algorithms: DSA, RSA, and ECDSA. All three are used to generate and verify digital signatures, in conjunction with an approved hash function specified...
Elliptic Curve Cryptography ECC
Elliptic curve cryptography is critical to the adoption of strong cryptography as we migrate to higher security strengths. NIST has standardized elliptic curve cryptography for digital signature algorithms in FIPS 186 and for key establishment schemes in SP 800-56A.  In FIPS 186-4, NIST recommends fifteen elliptic curves of varying security levels for use in these elliptic curve cryptographic standards. However, more than fifteen years have passed since these curves were first developed, and...
Entropy as a Service EaaS
Cryptography is critical for securing data at rest or in transit over the IoT. But cryptography fails when a device uses easy-to-guess (weak) keys generated from low-entropy random data. Standard deterministic computers have trouble producing good randomness, especially resource-constrained IoT-class devices that have little opportunity to collect local entropy before they begin network communications. The best sources of true randomness are based on unpredictable physical phenomena, such as...
FIPS 140-3 Development
THIS PAGE IS FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES ONLY SEE FIPS 140-3 TRANSITION EFFORT FOR THE CURRENT STATUS Approval of FIPS 140-3  |  SP 800-140x Development  |  Implementation Schedule  |  2015 RFI FIPS 140-3 approved On March 22, 2019, the Secretary of Commerce approved Federal Information Processing Standards Publication (FIPS) 140-3, Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules, which supersedes FIPS 140-2. This was announced in the Federal Register on May 1, 2019. FIPS 140-3 aligns with...
FIPS 140-3 Transition Effort FIPS 140-3
While FIPS 140-2 continues on through 2026, development to support and validate FIPS 140-3 modules must be in place by September 2020. This project addresses questions concerning the process of migrating from FIPS 140-2 to FIPS 140-3.  The transition process includes organizational, documentation and procedural changes necessary to update and efficiently manage the ever increasing list of security products that are tested for use in the US and Canadian governments.  Changes also support the...
Hash Functions
Approved Algorithms   |  SHA-3 Derived Functions  |  Security Strengths  |  Testing Implementations Approved Algorithms A hash algorithm is used to map a message of arbitrary length to a fixed-length message digest. Approved hash algorithms for generating a condensed representation of a message (message digest) are specified in two Federal Information Processing Standards: FIPS 180-4, Secure Hash Standard and FIPS 202, SHA-3 Standard: Permutation-Based Hash and Extendable-Output Functions....
Human-Centered Cybersecurity
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Human-Centered Cybersecurity program seeks to "champion the human in cybersecurity" by conducting interdisciplinary research to better understand and improve people’s interactions with cybersecurity systems, products, processes, and services.                    Research Areas                    
Interoperable Randomness Beacons
The Interoperable Randomness Beacons project at NIST intends to promote the availability of trusted public randomness as a public utility. This can be used for example for auditability and transparency of services that depend on randomized processes. The project is spearheaded by the Cryptographic Technology Group in the Computer Security Division of the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL), and has counted with the participation of many collaborators over the years. WARNING: Do NOT use...
Key Management
Publications that discuss the generation, establishment, storage, use and destruction of the keys used NIST’s cryptographic algorithms Project Areas: Key Management Guidelines Key Establishment Cryptographic Key Management Systems Generally-speaking, there are two types of key establishment techniques: 1) techniques based on asymmetric (public key) algorithms, and 2) techniques based on symmetric (secret key) algorithms. However, hybrid techniques are also commonly used, whereby public...
Masked Circuits for Block-Ciphers
A main goal of circuit masking is to make more difficult the illegitimate exfiltration of secrets from a circuit evaluation. Masking schemes use secret-sharing of the input bits of a circuit and recompile the circuit logic to ensure that important properties of the secret sharing remain across the circuit evaluation. After past exploratory steps to obtain feedback, the Masked Circuits (MC) project is not considering actions toward standardization. However, there is a plan to create a Masked...
Message Authentication Codes MAC
The message authentication code (MAC) is generated from an associated message as a method for assuring the integrity of the message and the authenticity of the source of the message.  A secret key to the generation algorithm must be established between the originator of the message and its intended receiver(s). Approved Algorithms Currently, there are three (3) approved* general purpose MAC algorithms:  HMAC, KMAC and CMAC. Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC) NIST SP...
Multi-Party Threshold Cryptography MPTC
The multi-party paradigm of threshold cryptography enables threshold schemes, for a secure distribution of trust in the operation of cryptographic primitives. 2024: NIST IR 8214B (on Threshold EdDSA) and NIST IR 8214C (with the Threshold Call) are being revised. Threshold Call: A 2nd public draft (2pd) of IR 8214C will be published, some time after gauging opinions in the MPTC-forum about planned changes compared to the initial public draft (ipd). Threshold EdDSA: The final version of IR...
National Software Reference Library NSRL
[Redirect to: https://www.nist.gov/itl/ssd/software-quality-group/national-software-reference-library-nsrl] The National Software Reference Library (NSRL) is designed to collect software from various sources and incorporate file profiles computed from this software into a Reference Data Set (RDS) of information. The RDS can be used by law enforcement, government, and industry organizations to review files on a computer by matching file profiles in the RDS. This will help alleviate much of the...
Pairing-Based Cryptography
Recently, what are known as “pairings” on elliptic curves have been a very active area of research in cryptography. A pairing is a function that maps a pair of points on an elliptic curve into a finite field. Their unique properties have enabled many new cryptographic protocols that had not previously been feasible. In particular, identity-based encryption (IBE) is a pairing-based scheme that has received considerable attention. IBE uses some form of a person (or entity’s) identification to...
Post-Quantum Cryptography PQC
Short URL:  https://www.nist.gov/pqcrypto FIPS 203, FIPS 204 and FIPS 205, which specify algorithms derived from CRYSTALS-Dilithium, CRYSTALS-KYBER and SPHINCS+, were published August 13, 2024.  PQC Seminars Next Talk:  September 27 4th Round KEMs   Additional Digital Signature Schemes - Round 1 Submissions PQC License Summary & Excerpts Background NIST initiated a process to solicit, evaluate, and standardize one or more quantum-resistant public-key cryptographic algorithms.  Full...

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