The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has finalized its primary set of encryption algorithms designed to resist quantum computer-based cyberattacks. As we get nearer to Y2Q, the time when quantum computers will have the potential to break existing asymmetric encryption, NIST has completed the first standards from its post-quantum cryptography (PQC) project. These algorithms are now ready for immediate implementation.
Here are the algorithms with their corresponding finalized standard version numbers:
1. Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 203 = CRYSTALS-Kyber. A key encapsulation mechanism (KEM) for general encryption.
2. FIPS 204 = CRYSTALS-Dilithium. A digital signature algorithm for ensuring data integrity and authentication.
3. FIPS 205 = SPHINCS+. Another digital signature algorithm that uses a hash-based approach, providing an alternative in case the lattice-based algorithms (like CRYSTALS) face vulnerabilities in the future.