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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is requesting comments on a new process to solicit, evaluate, and standardize one or more quantum-resistant public-key cryptographic algorithms. Currently, public-key cryptographic algorithms are specified in FIPS 186–4, Digital Signature Standard, 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 Revision 1, Recommendation for Pair-Wises Key-Establishment Schemes Using Integer Factorization Cryptography. However, these...

AES Overview | NIST Reports | Federal Register Notices | Rijndael Info | Related Publications AES Overview Beginning in 1997, NIST worked with industry and the cryptographic community to develop an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The overall goal was to develop a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) specifying an encryption algorithm capable of protecting sensitive government information well into the 21st century. The algorithm was expected to be used by the U.S. Government and, on a voluntary basis, by the private sector. On January 2, 1997, NIST announced the initiation of...

Since announcing KECCAK as the winning algorithm of the SHA-3 Cryptographic Hash Algorithm Competition on October 2, 2012, NIST has consulted with the Keccak design team and the cryptographic community in its effort to specify Keccak as the new SHA-3 Standard. The table below shows major events in the development of FIPS 202, SHA-3 Standard: Permutation-Based Hash and Extendable-Output Functions. Date Event 10/02/2012 SHA-3 competition ended; KECCAK announced as the winner. (NIST News Release) 02/06/2013 KECCAK team’s visit and presentation on SHA-3....

At A Glance Purpose: Carry out essential activities to help prepare all levels of the organization to manage its security and privacy risks using the RMF Outcomes: key risk management roles identified organizational risk management strategy established, risk tolerance determined organization-wide risk assessment organization-wide strategy for continuous monitoring developed and implemented common controls identified Resources for Implementers RMF Online Introductory Course RMF Quick Start Guide (QSG): Prepare Step FAQs Privacy Risk Assessment Methodology (PRAM)...

At A Glance Purpose: Inform organizational risk management processes and tasks by determining the adverse impact with respect to the loss of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of systems and the information processed, stored, and transmitted by those systems Outcomes: system characteristics documented security categorization of the system and information completed categorization decision reviewed/approved by authorizing official Resources for Implementers RMF Quick Start Guide (QSG): Categorize Step FAQs Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)...

At A Glance Purpose: Select, tailor, and document the controls necessary to protect the system and organization commensurate with risk Outcomes: control baselines selected and tailored controls designated as system-specific, hybrid, or common controls allocated to specific system components system-level continuous monitoring strategy developed security and privacy plans that reflect the control selection, designation, and allocation are reviewed and approved Resources for Implementers SP 800-53 and SP 800-53B Introductory Online Courses RMF Quick Start Guide...

At A Glance Purpose: Maintain ongoing situational awareness about the security and privacy posture of the system and organization to support risk management decisions Outcomes: system and environment of operation monitored in accordance with continuous monitoring strategy ongoing assessments of control effectiveness conducted in accordance with continuous monitoring strategy output of continuous monitoring activities analyzed and responded to process in place to report security and privacy posture to management ongoing authorizations conducted using results of continuous...

SP 800-38A: Five Confidentiality Modes In Special Publication 800-38A, five confidentiality modes are specified for use with any approved block cipher, such as the AES algorithm. The modes in SP 800-38A are updated versions of the ECB, CBC, CFB, and OFB modes that are specified in FIPS Pub. 81; in addition, SP 800-38A specifies the CTR mode. In the Addendum to SP 800-38A, NIST has specified three variants for extending the domain of the CBC mode using "ciphertext stealing." SP 800-38B: An Authentication Mode The CMAC authentication mode is specified in Special Publication...

Submissions should specify a mode of operation for a symmetric (secret) key block cipher algorithm. At a minimum, the mode should support underlying block ciphers with key-block combinations of 128-128, 192-128, and 256-128 bits. However, the specification should be generic – i.e., written to handle other key-block combinations, if they can be supported. Example modes include, but are not limited to, techniques for performing encryption, message authentication, hashing, and random bit generation. It will be helpful to receive variations of Counter mode arising from alternative...

Proposed Modes This page contains links to the proposals for block cipher modes of operation (modes, for short) that have been submitted to NIST for consideration. NIST maintains this page in order to facilitate public review of the modes; comments may be submitted to EncryptionModes@nist.gov. Appearance of a mode in this list does not constitute endorsement or approval by NIST. See the Current Modes page for descriptions of the modes that are currently approved. For each proposal below, links are given to the available documentation, as described in the following list of abbreviations:...

NIST continues to accept public comments on modes of operation, including comments on: Properties of individual modes (security, performance, etc.) Comparisons of proposed modes Recommendations for standardization Other related issues, such as padding. Comments may be submitted to EncryptionModes@nist.gov Comments on the Draft Specification of FPE Modes On February 28, 2019, NIST announced a public comment period, ending April 15, 2019, on Draft Special Publication 800-38G Revision 1, Recommendation for Block Cipher Modes of Operation: Methods for Format-Preserving Encryption. In...

The following specifications comprise SCAP version 1.3. Protocol SCAP: Security Content Automation Protocol Version: 1.3 Status: Final Specification: NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-126 rev 3 Specification Annex: NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-126 rev 3 Annex XML Schema: Source Data Stream, Constructs Example: Source Data Stream Example Schematron: Instructions and Download Tools SCAP Content Validation Tool Version: 1.3.6 Release Candidate 3 Released: 1/6/2022 Download: SCAP Content Validation Tool (Download 49 MB) SHA-256:...

The following specifications comprise SCAP version 1.2. Protocol SCAP: Security Content Automation Protocol Version: 1.2 Status: Final Specification: NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-126 rev 2 XML Schema: Source Data Stream, Constructs Example: Source Data Stream Example Schematron: Instructions and Download Errata: NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-126 Rev 2 Errata Change Proposals: Summer 2011 Developer Days (May 31, 2011) Tools SCAP Content Validation Tool Version: 1.2.1.16 Released: 12/16/2016 Download: SCAP Content Validation Tool (Download 25 MB) sha-256:...

The following specifications comprise SCAP version 1.1. Protocol SCAP: Security Content Automation Protocol Version: 1.1 Status: Final Specification: NIST SP 800-126 Rev. 1 Tools SCAP Content Validation Tool Version: 1.1.2.9 Released: 04/28/2011 Download: SCAP Content Validation Tool for SCAP 1.0 and 1.1 (Download 20.9 MB) [Note: A new version is available here that supports SCAP 1.2.] sha-1: E327A3477E4B6E9CD313B021E88572244967C4F8 sha-256: E9A49AF8DDC4E4A79785174969BD644ECDFF4C91E690625E9E9933FB9E2E33E5 Description: The SCAP Content Validation Tool is designed to validate the...

The following specifications comprise SCAP version 1.0. Please note that this version of SCAP is no longer supported by NIST. Protocol SCAP: Security Content Automation Protocol Version: 1.0 Status: Final (Support Withdrawn) Specification: NIST SP800-126 Tools SCAP Content Validation Tool Version: 1.1.2.9 Released: 04/28/2011 Download: SCAP Content Validation Tool for SCAP 1.0 and 1.1 (Download 20.9 MB) [Note: A new version is available here that supports SCAP 1.2.] sha-1: E327A3477E4B6E9CD313B021E88572244967C4F8 sha-256:...

Asset identification plays an important role in an organization's ability to quickly correlate different sets of information about assets. This specification provides the necessary constructs to uniquely identify assets based on known identifiers and/or known information about the assets. This specification describes the purpose of asset identification, a data model for identifying assets, methods for identifying assets, and guidance on how to use asset identification. It also identifies a number of known use cases for asset identification. The Asset Specifications Development List is...

The CCE List provides unique identifiers to security-related system configuration issues in order to improve workflow by facilitating fast and accurate correlation of configuration data across multiple information sources and tools. For example, CCE Identifiers are included for the settings in NIST macOS (mSCP); are the main identifiers used for the settings in the U.S. Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) data file downloads; and provide a mapping between the elements in configuration best-practice documents including the Center for Internet Security’s (CIS) CIS Benchmark...

Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) is a standardized method of describing and identifying classes of applications, operating systems, and hardware devices present among an enterprise's computing assets. CPE names product classes rather than specific installed instances, which lets security tools make consistent, automated decisions for asset management, vulnerability management, and configuration management. This page is the entry point for the CPE specification. It gives a high-level overview of the CPE versions and the work now under way on the next major revision. Each version has its own...

The Open Checklist Interactive Language (OCIL) defines a framework for expressing a set of questions to be presented to a user and corresponding procedures to interpret responses to these questions. Although the OCIL specification was developed for use with IT security checklists, the uses of OCIL are by no means confined to IT security. Other possible use cases include research surveys, academic course exams, and instructional walkthroughs. In IT security, organizations work with security policies that detail the information that needs to be secured and the security requirements that must be...

XCCDF - The Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format XCCDF is a specification language for writing security checklists, benchmarks, and related kinds of documents. An XCCDF document represents a structured collection of security configuration rules for some set of target systems. The specification is designed to support information interchange, document generation, organizational and situational tailoring, automated compliance testing, and compliance scoring. The specification also defines a data model and format for storing results of benchmark compliance testing. The intent...

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) publishes, ISO/IEC 19770-2, a standard for software identification (SWID) tags that defines a structured metadata format for describing a software product. A SWID tag document is composed of a structured set of data elements that identify the software product, characterize the product's version, the organizations and individuals that had a role in the production and distribution of the product, information about the artifacts that comprise a software product, relationships between...

Authentication mechanisms such as passwords and multi-factor authentication methods (e.g., smart cards and tokens) provide examples of the challenges involved in creating usable cybersecurity solutions. Our research explores the usage and usability of authentication mechanisms. We focus on how these mechanisms can be improved to aid in their correct, secure employment by different user populations while avoiding user frustration and circumvention. Also see our Youth Security & Privacy research area for publications related to youth passwords. Pursuant to September 29, 2026, Executive Order...

People and organizations often fail to adopt and effectively use cybersecurity best practices and technologies for a variety of reasons, including lack of knowledge/skills. Those professionals tasked with educating others may likewise face a number of challenges, including lack of resources, support, and skills needed to be effective security communicators. We conduct research to better understand the approaches and challenges with cybersecurity awareness and role-based training through the eyes of training professionals within the U.S. government. In the recent past, we also explored...

Overlay Submission Documents All documents must be complete and submitted to sec-cert@nist.gov for inclusion in the SCOR. Download All Files Download all files below as .ZIP or select individual files from list Submission Form Participation Agreement (Public Org) and Participation Agreement (Federal Gov) Overlay Technical Criteria (Not a download; references section below) Overview of the SCOR Submission Process Organizations sanitize their security control overlay for public review and ensure overlay is based on NIST SP 800-53 security controls. Organizations...

Call for Proposals All electronic data shall be provided either in a zip file, or on a single CD-ROM, DVD, or USB flash drive labeled with the submitter’s name, as well as the name of the proposed cryptosystem. 2.C.1 Implementations Two implementations are required in the submission package: a reference implementation and an optimized implementation. The goal of the reference implementation is to promote understanding of how the submitted algorithm may be implemented. Since this implementation is intended for reference purposes, clarity in the implementation code is more important than the...