3.3 NIST PQC Standards

The official US standards for quantum-safe cryptography.

Background

NIST1) has published the first three Post-Quantum Standards2) in August 2024 after 8 years of research.

The Three Standards

FIPS 203 - ML-KEM

Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism3)

  • For: Encryption / Key Exchange
  • Based on: CRYSTALS-Kyber4)
  • Usage: TLS5), VPN, secure communication

FIPS 204 - ML-DSA

Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm6)

  • For: Digital Signatures
  • Based on: CRYSTALS-Dilithium7)
  • Usage: Certificates, software signing

FIPS 205 - SLH-DSA

Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Algorithm8)

  • For: Digital Signatures (Backup)
  • Based on: SPHINCS+9)
  • Usage: If ML-DSA shows weaknesses

Recommendation

NIST recommends immediate adoption of these standards. They can and should be implemented now.

Sources

1)
National Institute of Standards and Technology: https://www.nist.gov/
2)
NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Project: https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/post-quantum-cryptography
4)
CRYSTALS-Kyber Specification: https://pq-crystals.org/kyber/
5)
Transport Layer Security
7)
CRYSTALS-Dilithium Specification: https://pq-crystals.org/dilithium/
9)
SPHINCS+ Specification: https://sphincs.org/
Zuletzt geändert: on 2026/01/29 at 11:28 PM