NIST has completed the review of 40 additional digital signature candidates submitted for the Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standardization process. These submissions were received in response to a September 2022 call for additional PQC digital signature schemes. The evaluation and analysis of these candidates is expected to take several years, and NIST invites feedback on all 40 candidates.
The PQC standardization process was initiated by NIST in December 2016 to select quantum-resistant public-key cryptographic algorithms in response to the advancement of quantum computing. After three rounds of evaluation and analysis, NIST announced the selection of three digital signature schemes: CRYSTALS-Dilithium, FALCON, and SPHINCS+.
In September 2022, NIST issued a fourth call for additional digital signature proposals to be considered in the PQC standardization process. The evaluation criteria and complete instructions for submission were posted on the PQC: Digital Signature Schemes project page, and the deadline for submission was June 1, 2023. NIST received 50 submissions in response and deemed 40 to be complete and proper according to the submission requirements. The complete submission packages, including the algorithm specifications and code for implementation, are posted on the PQC: Digital Signature Schemes project page.
NIST was primarily interested in additional general-purpose signature schemes that were not based on structured lattices. However, NIST was open to receiving additional submissions based on structured lattices that significantly outperformed CRYSTALS-Dilithium and FALCON in relevant applications and ensured substantial security properties.
Keywords: Post-Quantum, Digital Signature Schemes, Standardization Process, Public-Key Cryptographic Algorithms
