cryptographic hash Algorithm Competition

NIST announced a public competition in a Federal Register Notice on November 2, 2007 to develop a new cryptographic hash algorithm called SHA-3. The competition is NIST’s response to advances made in the cryptanalysis of hash algorithms.

A cryptographic hash algorithm is a widely-used tool that creates a “fingerprint”, or a “message digest” of a file, message or block of data that can be used for digital signatures, message authentication codes, and many other security applications in the information infrastructure. The winning SHA-3 algorithm will augment the hash algorithms currently specified in FIPS 180-4, Secure Hash Standard.

NIST received sixty-four entries from cryptographers around the world by October 31, 2008, and selected fifty-one first-round candidates in December 2008, and fourteen second-round candidates in July 2009. On December 9, 2010, NIST announced five third-round candidates – BLAKE, Grøstl, JH, Keccak and Skein, to enter the final round of the competition.

The cryptographic community has provided an enormous amount of feedback throughout the competition. Most of the comments were sent to NIST and a public hash forum; in addition, many of the cryptanalysis and performance studies were published as papers in major cryptographic conferences or leading cryptographic journals. NIST also hosted three SHA-3 candidate conferences to obtain public feedback. Based on the public comments and internal review of the candidates, NIST announced Keccak as the winner of the SHA-3 Cryptographic Hash Algorithm Competition on October 2, 2012, and ended the five-year competition.

Further details of the competition are available at the specific sites indicated in the menu on the left.