NIST has announced the second round candidates for its post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standardization process. The 17 selected public-key encryption and key-establishment algorithms and 9 digital signature algorithms will advance to the next phase of evaluation. NIST has released a report explaining the selection process and rationale.
The second round candidates will have the option to provide updated specifications and implementations by March 15, 2019. NIST will review the proposed modifications and publish the accepted submissions shortly afterwards. The second phase of evaluation and review is estimated to last 12-18 months.
NIST is planning to hold a second PQC Standardization Conference from August 22-24, 2019 in Santa Barbara, California, co-located with CRYPTO 2019. The call for papers will be posted on the NIST PQC website. After the second round, NIST may select schemes for standardization or decide a third round is needed, depending on future developments.
Keywords: algorithm, standardization, public-key encryption, key-establishment, digital signatures, submission, evaluation, implementation, modifications, conference, cryptography
