Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Standard

National Institute of Standards and Technology

doi:https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.FIPS.205.ipd

FIPS 205 (Initial Public Draft)

Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Standard

Date Published: August 24, 2023
Comments Due: November 22, 2023
Email Comments to: fips-205-comments@nist.gov

Author(s)

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Announcement

NIST requests comments on three draft Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS):

FIPS 203, Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism Standard
FIPS 204, Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Standard
FIPS 205, Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Standard

These proposed standards specify key establishment and digital signature schemes that are designed to resist future attacks by quantum computers, which threaten the security of current standards. The three algorithms specified in these standards are each derived from different submissions to the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization Project.

Abstract

This standard specifies the stateless hash-based digital signature algorithm (SLH-DSA). Digital signatures are used to detect unauthorized modifications to data and to authenticate the identity of the signatory. In addition, the recipient of signed data can use a digital signature as evidence in demonstrating to a third party that the signature was, in fact, generated by the claimed signatory. This is known as non-repudiation since the signatory cannot easily repudiate the signature at a later time. SLH-DSA is based on SPHINCS⁺, which was selected for standardization as part of the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization process.

Keywords

computer security; cryptography; digital signatures; Federal Information Processing Standards; hash-based signatures; public-key cryptography

Control Families

None selected

Documentation

Publication:
https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.FIPS.205.ipd
Download URL

Supplemental Material:
Federal Register Notice

Related NIST Publications:
FIPS 203 (Draft)
FIPS 204 (Draft)

Document History:
08/24/23: FIPS 205 (Draft)

Topics

Security and Privacy

digital signatures, post-quantum cryptography