NIST announces the publication of NIST Internal Report (NISTIR) 8369, Status Report on the Second Round of the NIST Lightweight Cryptography Standardization Process. NIST is in the process of selecting one or more authenticated encryption and hashing schemes suitable for applications in constrained environments through a public, competition-like process. In February 2019, 57 candidate algorithms were submitted to NIST for consideration. Among these, 56 were accepted as first-round candidates in April 2019, and 32 advanced to the second round of evaluation in September 2019.

In March 2021, NIST announced ten finalists. This report describes the evaluation criteria and selection process used during the second round.