NIST has announced it has completed the third round of the Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standardization process, which selects public-key cryptographic algorithms to protect information through the advent of quantum computers. A total of four candidate algorithms have been selected for standardization, and four additional algorithms will continue into the fourth round.
A detailed description of the decision process and selection rationale is included in NIST Internal Report (NIST IR) 8413, Status Report on the Third Round of the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization Process, which is also available on the NIST PQC webpage. Questions may be directed to pqc-comments@nist.gov.
This announcement also discusses plans for a Fourth PQC Conference and an upcoming call for additional quantum-resistant digital signature algorithms.
PQC STANDARDIZATION
After careful consideration during the third round of the NIST PQC Standardization Process, NIST has identified four candidate algorithms for standardization. NIST will recommend two primary algorithms to be implemented for most use cases: CRYSTALS-KYBER (key-establishment) and CRYSTALS-Dilithium (digital signatures). In addition, the signature schemes FALCON and SPHINCS+ will also be standardized.
