Post-Quantum crypto Project

NEWS -- December 15, 2016: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is now accepting submissions for quantum-resistant public-key cryptographic algorithms.  The deadline for submission is November 30, 2017.  Please see the Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization menu at left for the complete submission requirements and evaluation criteria.

In recent years, there has been a substantial amount of research on quantum computers – machines that exploit quantum mechanical phenomena to solve mathematical problems that are difficult or intractable for conventional computers. If large-scale quantum computers are ever built, they will be able to break many of the public-key cryptosystems currently in use. This would seriously compromise the confidentiality and integrity of digital communications on the Internet and elsewhere.  The goal of post-quantum cryptography (also called quantum-resistant cryptography) is to develop cryptographic systems that are secure against both quantum and classical computers, and can interoperate with existing communications protocols and networks. 

The question of when a large-scale quantum computer will be built is a complicated one. While in the past it was less clear that large quantum computers are a physical possibility, many scientists now believe it to be merely a significant engineering challenge. Some engineers even predict that within the next twenty or so years sufficiently large quantum computers will be built to break essentially all public key schemes currently in use. Historically, it has taken almost two decades to deploy our modern public key cryptography infrastructure.  Therefore, regardless of whether we can estimate the exact time of the arrival of the quantum computing era, we must begin now to prepare our information security systems to be able to resist quantum computing.

NIST has initiated a process to solicit, evaluate, and standardize one or more quantum-resistant public-key cryptographic algorithms.  Nominations for post-quantum candidate algorithms may now be submitted, up until the final deadline of November 30, 2017.  Full details can be found in the Call for Proposals Announcement

Contact

For technical inquiries, send e-mail to pqc-comments@nist.gov, or contact Lily Chen, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive—Stop 8930, Gaithersburg, MD 20899–8930;  telephone: +1 301–975–6974 or via fax at +1 301–975–8670, e-mail: lily.chen@nist.gov.

Answers to germane questions will be posted at http://www.nist.gov/pqcrypto. Questions and answers that are not pertinent to this announcement may not be posted. NIST will endeavor to answer all questions in a timely manner.

Dr. Dustin Moody, 301-975-8136
Dr. Lily Chen, 301-975-6974
Dr. Yi-Kai Liu, 301-975-6499

pqc-comments@nist.gov