The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) plays a critical role in developing standards for use in the United States that are often adopted internationally as well. Historically, NIST played a critical role in the standardization of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and the Data Encryption Standard (DES) that it replaced. These algorithms do not rely on the “hard” problems that underly public-key cryptography, making them quantum-resistant. However, with the need for post-quantum algorithms, NIST has taken aleading role in the selection and standardization process.

The entire cryptography community is watching, commenting, discussing, analyzing, and publishing results. It’s thrilling for mathematicians and cryptographers who work on the standardization of post quantum algorithms. This white paper is a high-level overview of post quantum competition and standardization and the impact of NIST’s decisions on your industry